You Gotta Have Faith
by WitchingWorld
Summary: Rose Weasley is an accomplished Healer working at St Mungo's, and it's been 7 years since she graduated from Hogwarts. She was doing just fine... until a certain character of bad faith comes back into her life and turns everything upside down. Sequel to Bad Faith! Rose/Scorpius. Because let's be honest, JK dropped us enough hints in the epilogue... Banner by Itsugo @ TDA!
1. 7 Years Later

_7 Years Later_

 _._

* * *

.

"Welcome to St Mungo's for Magical Maladies and Injuries," the Welcome Wizard droned, looking utterly bored.

A man in dark green robes with silvery blonde hair stood in front of the Inquiries sign, looking dishevelled, clammy and frankly, unsteady on his feet.

"Um, I'm not feeling too well and I think I need to see a Healer."

.

The Welcome Wizard's face turned even sourer than it was previously, what he had expected other than someone ill needing to see a Healer we'll never know... no wonder he had more wrinkles than he should have for his age.

Dipping his quill in an ink pot and hovering it over his parchment, he waited expectantly.

When Sam didn't say anything, he glared up, "Your name? So I can put you down on the waitlist…"

"Uhh, Scorpius is my legal name. Scorpius Malfoy."

"And have you been to St Mungo's before?"

Sam nodded, "Yeah, when I was a kid."

"Greeeeaaaat," he droned, as if it were in fact, not great at all... "We should have you on file. Take a seat and a Healer will come give you a preliminary examination before sending you to the appropriate floor."

Sam sat down at the closest row of chairs, too tired to venture further afield. He was slightly nervous about bumping into Rose, who he hadn't seen in 7 long years, but he'd been sick for weeks and he wasn't getting any better.

His parents had finally forced him to go in to St Mungo's when he fainted on the dining room floor this morning. He had had a rash stretching across his neck for almost a month, but he hadn't got it looked at, assuming it would go away on its own – it had only gotten worse.

As he waited for his name to be called, he inspected his surroundings to see if Rose was working. It was early on a Saturday morning, she probably wasn't on shift. What kind of person would willingly choose to work weekends?

.

His eyes were wondering around the room when a voice from behind him confirmed exactly what he feared most.

"Sam Malfoy, what are you doing in Britain!? You should have sent me an owl to let me know you were here!"

His heart dropped. He was hit with a wave of fear, but also excitement. Or maybe that was just the lightheadedness from his mysterious illness...

.

As Sam turned around to look at her, his breath caught.

She looked amazing.

Her hair was shaved around the back and sides, but long on top, with a side-fringe of curly red locks sweeping across her face. She was wearing the classic lime green robes all Healers wore at St Mungo's, but she had managed to make them look unique.

The sleeves were rolled up, badges and patches covered the breast pockets where her name was sewn. She was wearing black combat boots, the perfect combination of comfortable and cool.

And best of all, she looked… happy to see him?

.

'She doesn't remember you Sam, not really, not us,' Sam reminded himself as he smiled back.

"Hey Rose, I only just got in and I'm feeling a bit crook," he laughed awkwardly, sort of petering off and looking away, his hand moving to the back of his neck - the most awkward bodily position he could have chosen really.

"Well come on into this exam room and I'll check you out, you do look a bit… well, sweaty," Rose grinned and Sam let out a more genuine laugh.

.

When they got to the exam room Rose turned around and gestured to a hospital bed on the far side of the room and stood expectantly waiting for him to get onto it. A tidy mahogany desk with quills, ink and parchment laid out across the top sat opposite the bed.

Sam sat down on the bed and Rose immediately began examining him, "So what are your symptoms, what's going on?"

Sam's hand immediately went to his neck, "Well I have this rash that's quite itchy and sore, it's been there for… probably almost a month-"

As he spoke the quill dipped itself into the inkpot and started dictating notes and records onto the parchment.

"A month!? Sam, that's way too long to wait before getting something checked out!"

The words SYMPTOMS: OVER ONE MONTH, appeared in capital letters on the parchment, which embarrassed Sam even more. It was a judgy quill, clearly.

Sam sighed, "I know, I know, I just thought it would go away on its own, but then I started having trouble breathing sometimes, dizziness, lethargy – I'm probably just a bit run-down."

.

Rose cast a barrier charm over her hands and lifted up the collar of Sam's robes, inspecting the rash, which had spread down across his collarbones and shoulders.

"Oh and I kind of fainted this morning," he said quickly, almost like an afterthought.

LOST CONSCIOUSNESS IN PREVIOUS 6 HOURS - appeared in capital letters on the parchment, Sam rolled his eyes at the quill.

"Can you get that quill to quit it, I don't want to see it writing notes about us."

Rose sighed in exasperation, "First of all, you might have wanted to lead with the fainting thing Sam, and secondly that quill writes what it needs to for your patient records and my diagnosis, so no, it cannot 'quit it'."

He was about to retort back with something smart when suddenly Sam's head swayed forward from dizziness.

He pulled back abruptly trying to regain some semblance of balance, "Ugh sorry I feel really queasy."

Rose grasped his arm to steady him. "That's okay, take your time."

After a few moments of waiting the feeling subsided and Sam nodded back to her that he was okay.

"Do you mind taking off your robes and shirt, I want to get a good look at that rash."

"Uh, sure, yeah okay."

.

Sam tried to stand up but quickly stumbled, so Rose steadied him then sat him back down.

"Here, let me do it."

She gently pulled down his robes, removing each arm and letting it fall to the bed.

Sam didn't make eye contact with her but conflictingly, he felt both tension and trust (or again, it could have been the lightheadedness from his mysterious illness) as her hands unbuttoned his cream dress shirt and pulled it down to reveal the rash.

It felt strangely intimate but Rose made sure she was extremely professional, not touching him except to inspect the rash.

.

"Do you still feel dizzy right now? Or just queasy?"

Sam's hand went to his head and the other grasped the bed.

"I definitely feel dizzy too," he could feel himself swaying again and as he looked up at Rose his vision started to blur.

Rose moved her hand to support his head, but he turned away, "Rose I think I'm gonna be sick."

She turned quickly to reach for her wand so she could summon a bucket but as she heard his retch, she knew was far too late…

The vomit hit her before she could even say Merlin.

.

Rose let out a small wince of disgust. No matter how many times she was vomited on by patients, it never got easier.

When Sam was done, he wiped his mouth and started a stream of apologies, "I'm so sorry Rose, I was trying to aim away from you I swear," but Rose was staring at the vomit on her robes, not in revulsion but in shock.

The vomit was a light purplish colour, it immediately confirmed a diagnosis Rose had been speculating.

.

"Damn it Sam, why didn't you come in earlier? You've got Scrofungulus! Rash on the neck should have been obvious, you work in bloody care of magical creatures and herbology, you should know this."

Sam let out a groan, "Oh blast, I'm so sorry, Scrofungulus is so contagious-"

"Yes, and you just vomited all over me! Tell me you didn't touch anyone coming in here."

"I didn't, I'm sure of it."

With that Rose walked over to the desk, grabbed her wand and with a flick sounded the alarm for contagion. The door to the exam room slammed shit and a lime green light flowed around the edges, sealing it.

.

Pointing her wand at her throat, Rose muttered "Sonorus" and her voice boomed out across the reception area, "We have a patient presenting with Scrofungulus in exam room five at reception, no one leaves the area until they have been screened and doused for the bug that carries the fungus. Patient's family also needs to be screened, send out a team to the address listed on their file. Please move us up to Level 2 when the area is clear, the Healer has been compromised and may be carrying the contagion."

She glared at Sam in annoyance, but he'd started vomiting again.

"That's disgusting Malfoy," her voice boomed out again, "Quietus – shit!"


	2. Quarantine

When Rose finally got the go ahead to Apparate up to the 2nd Floor into a quarantined room, she was utterly relieved.

"Ugh, finally. All right let's go-"

"Wait, I think I'm going to be sick aga-"

Rose didn't wait for him to finish the sentence.

POP!

.

As they landed in the ward, Sam heaved again, splattering purple vomit all over the floor.

Coughing and spluttering, he looked darkly over at Rose, "Why didn't you wait just a second?"

"Well, either you vomit in this room or the next, either way you still vomit. What difference does it make?" Rose shrugged as she waved her wand, vanishing the vomit quickly.

"Apparition makes you queasy even you're not already about to puke!"

"So it can't make you any queasier than you already were, seeing as you were just about to spew. Besides, you've got no one to blame but yourself for all the puking, seeing as you left a rash across your neck untreated for a month!"

"Almost a month!" Sam snapped back

.

Rose was getting increasingly frustrated. As a Healer, early and preventative healthcare was her bread and butter.

"Why didn't you come in earlier Sam, you're so far along, who knows who else you've infected? Your parents have definitely got it, have you been in contact with anyone else?"

"No one, I got to my parents a week ago and I never left the house."

"You've been in Britain for a week? You obviously saw Al."

Sam rolled his eyes, "I can visit Britain for a week and not see Al, Rose. Seriously, I didn't see anyone, I swear."

.

Rose conjured up a bucket and shoved it at Sam, "Just keep your puke in here okay, I'm going to go get changed." She walked over to a wooden cupboard in the room and pulled out some black robes and a shirt.

Walking out of the room, she entered a hallway and made her way to a small bathroom to change out of the robes he had soiled. She had cleaned them off with magic but a sour smell still lingered on her.

The bathroom was simple, tiled the same lime green colour of her Healer robes.

Rose pulled off her robes and wrinkled her nose at the smell, the symptoms of Scrofungulus were some of the most bizarre out of all the magical maladies there were.

As she hopped into the shower and started the clothes self-washing in the basin, it occurred to her that Sam's symptoms weren't the most horrific thing about Scrofungulus. It was a fatal disease when not treated properly, and Sam was very far along.

They'd have to be very aggressive in their treatment if they wanted to stop the fungus from forming a stranglehold around Sam's neck, seeping down his throat and into all his other internal organs.

From the purple spew (that had even reached her hair, she realised rubbing a generous helping of cedar-smelling shampoo through it), it was obvious the fungus had already reached his stomach.

.

With her realisation about the potential mortality facing Sam, Rose was pushed right into action. She got out of the shower, dressed herself and sped back into the living room where she'd left Sam retching.

He was sitting on the couch, bucket in hand, which was now filled with even more purple vomit - exactly what everyone needs!

Rose crouched down and put her arm on his shoulder, worried but confident in exactly what she had to do, "I am going to get started okay?"

He nodded weakly.

Her wand started working vigorously, writing memos inside protection charms that could make their way out of the quarantine area, and casting preliminary healing charms to slow the growth of the Scrofungulus.

"I can't believe you're this far gone Sam, honestly…," Rose shook her head and rolled her eyes dramatically to overshadow her genuine fears and concerns.

"It's that bad huh." He saw right through it, Sam had always excelled at Herbology.

He might not know the medical sides of things well, but he knew how dangerous Scrofungulus was. It could kill.

Rose didn't reply directly, quelling the rising panic that came with a patient who knew exactly how dire things were, "You should send word back to India, anyone you came into contact with their might also be infected."

"I'll send word back to the care centre as soon as I can."

They both heard a click at the door and a two small crystal phials, one round and one tall, floated through the a hatch in the door.

His treatments had arrived.

Rose made eye contact with Sam, and looked directly at him in a way she hadn't really since she'd come across him in the foyer of Mungos.

Things were only going to get worse and she had to make sure he understood what was going to happen next, "You know the treatment's going to be… really aggressive now right? It's going to hurt Sam, I'm not going to lie."

Sam looked back at her with his stormy grey eyes, only a flicker of fear running through him before he replied calmly, "Yeah I know, do what you have to do."

.

* * *

.

"AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH."

"I told you this was going to hurt!"

"I know," he grimaced.

"Well then will you hold still you barmy git?"

Sam twisted his head away as he lay shirtless on a bed, gripping the covers in pain with both hands.

"That is unprofessional! You can't call me a git!"

"I know, I know, but it's not everyday you treat your childhood friend.

"Ughh, it bloomin' hurts Rose! I can't help moving-"

"Look we're almost done, I swear," she smeared more salve from the round phial onto his neck, then dipped two fingers back into the phial to get more, holding his head still with her other hand.

Sam cried out again, "Ughhhh, Merlin it fucking burns, fuck, shit, fuck!"

Rose chuckled, "This salve is really bringing out the potty mouth in you."

Sam smiled (or grimaced), "Says YOU. You used to swear like a sailor - some weird rebellion thing from the know-it-all goody-two-shoes image you were trying to escape. Besides, I've got to find some outlet for the terrible burning sensation spreading across my entire body - fuckkkkk ow ow bloody hell!"

.

Rose continued to spread the salve down and across Sam's collar bones as he winced and flinched.

As his primary Healer, Rose had chosen the most aggressive treatment plan possible: both the oral potion and the salve to try and kill the Scrofungulus internally and externally.

To steady him, Rose placed her other hand firmly on Sam's chest, "Hold still, okay, please try, we need to make sure this salve is applied evenly everywhere."

She looked up and as their eyes met, she felt a familiar shiver shoot through her stomach.

For some reason, Sam could still bring out the same stirring emotions in her that he always had.

He bit his lip, it seemed for some reason they had both only just realised how close they were, Sam lying down on the bed, Rose sitting next to him with her hand on his bare chest.

Rose froze for a moment, both of them barely breathing, then she broke the stare, looking back at this chest before continuing to apply the salve.

Sam tried not to cry out, but the burning sensation was too much, "Ughhhhhh," he groaned.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, this is the last little bit, honestly."

"Hah! You said that last time Weasley you liar."

.

They both laughed as Rose finally did finishing spreading the salve, but her smile faltered a little.

Sh turned her face away quickly but Sam saw the flash of anxiety and he lifted his hand to her arm, touching her as lightly as he could.

"Rose I know this disease is far along, it's my own fault. You don't have to look after me, I can treat myself and you can stay in quarantine alone-"

"This is seriously bad Sam, Scrofungulus can be fatal. You cannot treat yourself. I'm taking protective measures to quash the contagion before it can get hold of me, I'm your Healer and I have to stay in quarantine anyway-"

"But Rose," he paused, taking a breath to recognise the gravity of the situation, "if you stay quarantined together with me, St Mungos could end up blown to pieces."

He said it with such a straight dead-pan face Rose couldn't help but to guffaw loudly, "Merlin help me, you are still _such_ a prat! But I am a professional, and we're adults now, we can get along."

She then promptly threw a cushion at his face.

Sniggering Sam called out, "Hey, hey, Cherry I'm ill! You have to treat me with kindness and tenderness-"

.

Rose just snorted and walked out of the bedroom, "There's going to be a lot more burning salve Malfoy, a lot more!" she called out from the hallway.

Malfoy smiled and looked up at the ceiling, it was almost like old times.

Then his brow wrinkled and he backtracked - he had accidentally called Rose 'Cherry', his old nickname for her.

And she hadn't batted an eyelid...


	3. A Game Of Wizard's Chess

When Sam awoke, the room was dark and stuffy. The curtains were drawn to block out the light, it could have been the middle of the day for all he knew.

"Sam wake up, you've got to take your next dose of potion."

This was his third day of quarantine with Rose, and while he was consistently drinking every single potion pushed at him, he was getting weaker with each passing day.

He groaned, and opened his eyes, groggy from either the Scrofungulus or the potion he was drinking every 6 hours for treatment.

Sam grabbed the phial from Rose's hand and tried to tip it straight down his throat but Rose interrupted him.

"Woah hold up, you have to sit up so you don't bloody well choke."

.

She put her arm behind Sam's head and gently helped him sit up.

Looking at him up close, she saw how much he'd deteriorated even with the potions and salves, she felt a lump in her throat as she suppressed the urge to cry.

He didn't look good.

Sam slowly swallowed what was in the phial then placed it on the bedside table.

He sighed, "Ok so now that that's done and I'm fully awakened by its delectable bitterness, how about we, I dunno, play a game of chess?"

Rose covered up the moment of sadness with a quick quip, "Oh you want to go there? You know you always lose."

.

She turned away to bide herself some time to compose herself and walked over to a cupboard to get out the chess board and some stock pieces.

As she rummaged through the cupboard she called back to Sam, "I know we don't have our own pieces to play with, but it's okay, whichever pieces I use, they're still going to crush yours."

"Hey, aren't Healers supposed to be humble?"

"Absolutely not, we're the most uppity profession there is - we save lives, we're one hundred percent full of ourselves."

"All right Weasley, just sit down. Let's see if you've still got it."

.

Rose sat down at the end of Sam's bed and placed the chess board between them.

All she had to do was slightly open up the box of pieces before all the pieces started to push open the lid and clamber out, making their way onto the board by themselves.

If there was anything Rose loved about Wizard's chess it was the sassy character of all of the pieces as they played to destroy each other.

The white pieces in the set hissed at the black ones the entire time they were getting into place but they all eventually settled themselves onto their starting squares without any bloodshed.

As the game got going Sam watched Rose's face carefully.

All he could think about was the last time they'd seen each other.

.

Did she remember what had happened between them or had all those memories remained erased?

For some reason, contemplating this was filling him with conflict.

On the one hand, if she had found her memories or broken the memory charm she would remember all of the things that had happened between them; the good and the bad, but at least the guilt Sam felt for erasing them and lying to her all these years would finally be able to subside.

On the other hand, if the memory charm was still in place she wouldn't remember any of the pain they had caused each other, which was what she wanted, and they could continue on with their shallow, vague friendship.

Rose hadn't given any more indications that she remembered their relationship from Hogwarts.

It still felt like a punch in the gut whenever Sam thought about the night he'd Obliviated her.

Surely though, if she didn't remember she would have been confused that he had called her Cherry?

.

'I need to find out what she knows,' Sam thought to himself.

"So Cherry, remember that time we went camping with all the Weasleys and the Potters? It was wild fun hey."

"Bishop to F3," Rose said nonchalantly as her bishop screamed with glee and waltzed over to smash Sam's pawn to pieces.

.

"Yeah it was all right, although nobody would bloody apparate Bee and me back to camp and we had to bloomin' walk. You were all such snot-rags."

Sam laughed, "Yeah, we did love lording that we were of age over you. Rook to A6. But we had a good time other than that right?"

"Knight to A6," Rose's knight promptly galloped on top of Sam's Rook and squished it till it exploded into tiny peices.

But she couldn't enjoy the triumph, "Sam," she looked up awkwardly, "I… I know what you're trying to ask.. I've been trying to find the right time to tell you."

Her gaze dropped back to the chess board.

Silence filled the moment, neither of them really daring to cross the line, and break out into the open.

Sam felt like his lungs might explode from the suspense, 'Do I really want to go there?' he thought to himself.

But before he could really decide he could feel himself blurting out words.

"You figured out I Obliviated you."

It was a statement, not a question.

"Of course I did. I'm a genius," she stated dramatically, but the joke fell flat and her face quickly faded to a sadder look.

"I was studying at the Healer academy, learning about symptoms of magically-induced forgetfulness and it just became abundantly clear that I was experiencing them. Small details were missing, implications by Bee and Jen and Annie that I didn't understand, they even told me about the Polyjuice party and we were all so confused about how I could possibly have forgotten. And then I just kept having this niggling feeling…"

Rose's lip trembled with heartache, "It was like this emptiness, and I kept pushing it aside, thinking it was nothing but… it was always there."

Emotions were welling up inside of Rose, crashing over her like a wave.

She pushed back her fringe to distract herself, ground herself, give her anything to focus on other than the intensity of _this_.

Her palms were sweating and her chest constricting, but she knew that this was going to have to come out eventually, they were going to be trapped in quarantine for an unknown quantity of time - and she had run from this for too long already.

"I just started hunting around, through all my old Hogwarts books and journals, asking all our friends… I was honestly about to tell Harry and Ron and ask them to look into it, in case it was malicious, like a Dark Witch or Wizard you know?"

Sam's face dropped from concern into a panic, "You didn't get your father involved?! He would have figured it out in a second and probably has a warrant for my arrest waiting for me right now! I knew I should never have come back to Britain, if the Scrofungulus doesn't get me your Auror family members will!"

Rose jumped in, chuckling at his genuine fear (because that's just the kind of friend she was), "Don't worry, lucky for you I asked Al for help before I went to the Auror department. Dad never heard about it. And, well after some bullying, Al showed me the flask."

The flask.

.

Sam had given to Al right before he left Britain.

The flask that was full to the brim with all of Rose's pearly white memories.

Sinking his head into his hands, it finally hit him.

She remembered everything, of course she did, she remembered all the awful things he'd said and done, how badly he treated her, how much he'd hurt her.

Shame flushed his cheeks with a tinge of pink, he felt like he'd walked onto a stage in front of a huge crowd only to find they all knew every single one of this darkest secrets and they were all judging him for it.

Merlin, he'd been such a child back then, "I am so sorry Rose, for everything."

He searched her face for answers, did she still hate him?

"I was a selfish prat and I caused you so much pain, sometimes I really thought you'd made the right decision, even though it hurt. Maybe it was better that you didn't remember me… us."

Rose levitated the forgotten game of chess off the bed (she was clearly going to win anyway) and moved closer to Sam on the bed.

.

He looked so ill, he had bags under his eyes and a rash still spread out across his neck.

Even though this conversation was putting her under pressure, and she was all sweaty palms and anxiety and adrenaline, she knew she owed Sam the truth.

There might not be another time to say it.

.

"No. The most cowardly thing I ever did was erase my memories of us. It was awful and vindictive and totally ridiculous for me to make you leave the country. It was even more cowardly for me not to contact you when I got my memory back. I should have told you, I should have said you could come home. I'm so sorry…"

Her face trailed off and tears started to roll down her cheeks.

"Rosie, no, please don't cry. We've both made mistakes," Sam murmured, he moved closer to her to grab her hand.

"I know, I really know that now, with all my memories back and everything. I don't know how we managed to fuck things up so completely, but I know it was my fault too. I wanted to blame you for everything, but I was the one who took it too far and turned it into something we couldn't take back."

He squeezed her hand and she gripped it back tightly, her chest finally feeling a release as she breathed out the air she had been holding subconsciously.

.

Rose took a deep breath in and quickly wiped her tears away, "The only thing you should be concerned about right now is getting better. I am the best person for that job, so if it's okay with you, I'd really like to stay and do that. Okay?"

Sam nodded, his throat was aching with sadness for all that they'd been through, how young and ridiculous they'd been.

Their world had been so much smaller back then.

It had been easier to lash out than to deal with things, to self-reflect, to grow, to heal.

Tears filled his eyes too so he quickly looked away, but Rose saw them drop down and lifted a hand to wipe them away.

The mood had shifted to deeply personal and intimate, Rose had to mentally remind herself that this was really only the third day they'd even spoken to each other in the last seven years.

She pulled her hand away from his face, unsure.

Their history was filling the air and neither of them knew quite what to do.

.

Rose shifted and smiled gently, breaking the moment.

"Do you want something to eat? You must be starving after all that sleeping, we can get anything you want in quarantine, you know."

"Yeah that sounds good," Sam turned and slowly eased himself out of the bed, relieved but also wistful that the moment was over and they had turned to more mundane things.

Internally, he laughed at himself, he should have known she would find her way back to her memories.

He could never have constrained Rose Weasley from her own mind.


	4. New Memories

Sam had now been in St Mungos, with Rose as his primary Healer, for over two weeks.

They were both still confined to quarantine so the Scrofungulus didn't spread, and so far it hadn't, but Sam was still incapacitated and not healing as well as she'd hoped by now.

He wasn't getting dramatically worse, but he also wasn't getting better.

Rose guessed that the Scrofungulus might be spreading to his other internal organs and had upped his dose of the potions to try and root it out.

Whenever the discussion turned to his health, Sam always tried to lighten the topic.

"Okay, so I'm not better, but on the plus side we've been trapped in here for two weeks and the building is still intact."

"Oh ha-haa, you're hilarious," Rose responded dryly, after she'd outlined his new treatment schedule.

Sam's parents had also been quarantined in another area, received some treatment and didn't have any symptoms thanks to early intervention.

They'd exchanged memos with Sam through the quarantine zone and were now back home at Malfoy Manor.

.

Sam and Rose had been spending their days talking and playing games, and Rose had even managed to smuggle in one of Sam's favourite muggle inventions: a TV.

Copious amounts of TV, constant debates about Quidditch (Rose still had a steadfast love for the Chudley Canons that Sam would never understand) and rapid catching up on all they'd missed in the last seven years filled most of their time.

.

"You know, what I really want to know is," Rose asked, "What is the absolute worst escaped magical creature situation you've ever had to deal with."

They were both sitting on the couch in the living room vaguely playing a game of Exploding Snap.

Suffice it to say the couch cushions were singed.

"Well, I was flying my carpet through the streets of Bangalore - don't worry I cast a Disillusionment charm - and we were looking for this Re'em that had been stolen from our sanctuary. Now the good thing is that although the Re'em's blood is what people are after, that means they have an incentive to keep it alive."

.

He paused for dramatic effect, "Now - have you ever heard the muggle phrase 'bull in a china shop'?"

Rose through her head back with a guffaw, "No, I don't believe you-"

"The bloody poachers were keeping this Re'em, I shit you not, in a shop selling plates and cups, which granted were made of metal, but still!"

"That's not a china shop then"

"Close enough! You're ruining my story," Sam whined.

Rose through her hand of Exploding Snap cards into the air and they cracked off with a bang and a few sparks, "Well I wouldn't be able to ruin it if you weren't spewing untrue and hyperbolic tales".

"Hyperbolic? HYPERBOLIC?" Sam cried, definitely hyperbolising how outrageous he found her claim of hyperbole.

They both sniggered, the banter definitely hadn't been lost in the years since they'd been apart.

Rose's hand darted out to pinch his nose but Sam grabbed it before she could reach him. He didn't let go and his other hand reached up to her fringe, "I can't let you pinch me, you don't have braids for me to tug anymore, so it's really not fair."

As his fingers ran through her fringe they shared another intimate moment, which seemed to be happening more and more lately…

.

Sam broke the silence, "You know I can't stop thinking about how you got your memories back. How'd you do it Rose? I thought my Forgetfulness Charm was pretty good."

"Oh please," Rose shrugged her shoulders, "It was easy. I just pulled all my memories out of the flask with my wand and placed them back into my head, and then I had Al help me break the Forgetfulness charm… albeit with some questionable techniques," she admitted.

"What does that mean?" Sam responded sharply, feeling himself start to panic over the realisation that Rose might have hurt herself to break the charm he placed on her.

"Yeah Al wasn't too happy with me for a while. The way to un-repress memories properly is usually through another witch or wizard seeking to break the first charm, but you've got to really carefully tread the line between recovering the memory and doing permanent damage to the mind. Seeing as I had all these memories back in my head, it didn't take Al much, just a little needling."

.

"Ugh," Sam sighed in disgust at himself. "Needling? He had to hurt you."

"It was more like digging around, just trying to find the initial job. Seeing as I wanted Al to do it, I didn't offer up any resistance and because he's done a little Legilimency, he found your charm pretty easily and he broke it-"

"Just tell me the truth." He stared piercingly into Rose's deep brown eyes, he desperately needed an honest answer, he was burning to know - he needed to know if he could live with himself, "Did. It. Hurt?"

Rose tried to look away but Sam pulled her back with the hand that never let go of since she had tried to pinch his nose, "Please tell me Rose, I need to know."

.

She looked back up and the hurt in his grey eyes let her know he already knew the answer. He just needed her to confirm it.

"Yes, it hurt."

A toxic combination of anger, disappointment, shame and sadness that he had been trying to control, suddenly hit him.

Pain swirled through him and he felt sick to his stomach, and for once it wasn't related to the Scrofungulus.

He squeezed his eyes shut trying to compose himself, but at the same time, he knew that he deserved the pain of the emotions he was feeling for all that he had put Rose through, not just emotionally but physically now.

"Sam please don't beat yourself up about this - I asked you to Obliviate me. I hurt both of us so much, I was the one who took things too far, I did that." Rose could see how torn up Sam was over learning that she had hurt herself to get her memories back, but she had no regrets - she would do it again in a heartbeat.

She wrapped both her hands around his, "Do you really think I could stand to not have my memories back? The pain was nothing I couldn't handle - and the feeling of release when all the memories stopped feeling second-hand and were finally a part of me again? It made me whole again."

Sam took a few slow breaths and met Rose's eyes again, "How long ago was that?"

.

She didn't break eye contact, even though she was ashamed to reveal how long she'd had her memories back, he deserved that much.

"It happened two years ago. I am so sorry Sam, I should have told you straight away but I was so ashamed of myself and what I asked you to do. I should have contacted you and said you could come home, but I didn't want to face you. I was a coward - again. And what's worse is I made Al keep it from you and I kept you two apart."

"It's funny actually. He's been asking me to come back to Britain obsessively since around that time actually, but I kept making up excuses until I couldn't anymore - that's kind of why I'm here, but I wanted to surprise him."

.

Rose shook her head, grimacing, "Of course you did, guess that worked out particularly well - he hasn't even been able to visit you here."

Sam smiled ruefully, their affection for Al had always been one of the only things that brought them together.

He had missed Al when he'd been living in India, but seeing as Al had an Aunt with connections in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and being the son of Harry Potter and all, it wasn't too hard for him to be approved for floo travel or portkeys to India regularly (or if he was feeling reaallllyyy brave Apparating across most continents of the world).

Speculating, Sam paused for a moment, then pondered "You know if I hadn't gotten sick I would have just seen Al and left Britain again, I honestly wasn't planning on coming here, to Mungo's. I didn't want you to see me, I wanted to respect your wishes-"

She cut him off, "Screw my 17-year-old self and her selfish wishes. I'm glad you came back, and I am so thankful you came to St Mungo's so that we got to re-connect. We never got closure, we were just living with this huge hole in our lives where the other used to be. It's kind of amazing to see how much you've grown. You're not that kid I used to know, you have a great career and… Don't you think it's time we moved on and started making new memories?"

Sam smiled crookedly, he had never let himself dream of new memories with Rose, she'd been so locked up in his past. "Do you really think we can do that? I just feel like this whole quarantine thing has us cooped up in this weird time capsule and we keep going back to all the mistakes we've made and all the trauma we caused each other."

.

Rose gently placed her head on Sam's shoulder and gripped his hand firmly again in both of hers, interlocking their fingers, "Maybe that's what we needed to do to make things right between us. Process, acknowledge, and then move on to new experiences, and probably new mistakes"

Sam leaned his chin in Rose's wild mop of red curls and took in a deep breath, getting a whiff of her coconut shampoo and a smell that was distinctly Rose that he'd almost forgotten, "Yeah, maybe. New memories sound amazing."

They stayed like that for a while, in a gentle embrace on the couch, soaking in the possibilities of all the new memories they would make.


	5. A Kiss Is Just A Kiss

As the weeks went by, Rose and Sam's witty banter gathered itself in full swing, yet something else was blossoming too.

They teased and laughed, and filled their days with muggle television and Indian food and carryings on - Sam took full advantage of being able to order anything he wanted into quarantine and introduced Rose to his favourite dishes.

They ripped into steaming hot dosas with curry and raita, and Sam also had his fill of food he'd been homesick for, which he could never find in India; good fish and chips, a home roast, shepherd's pie.

All the while, the more time Sam and Rose spent together, the more the tension between them was building.

A look here, a moment there, a hand held too long and a breath quickened.

But it was usually covered with disagreements and sarcasm, it was quite the achievement that although their values and ideas about the world were very similar, they still somehow found so many things to disagree on.

.

A stranger might think they were constantly fighting, but it was really a deep rapport they had slipped into as easily as finding the right wand.

It just felt natural.

And it was getting harder and harder to deny the connection between them, which had really always been there.

Except this time, Rose wasn't fifteen.

She wasn't afraid of her feelings, she was more aware and attuned to them than ever before, and she found herself enjoying the romantic tension.

.

Flirting with Sam had never been something that she fully allowed herself to lean into, but being constantly surrounded by him without anyone else to break their perfect bubble eased many of the social pressures that might otherwise have got in the way.

Since agreeing that they should make new memories together, Sam had taken this to heart and tried to move past their teenage trauma and childhood reminiscing that had defined their first two weeks together.

Rather bravely, Sam brought up current hot-button issues (on which Rose was sure to have an opinion) like the disbandment of Azkaban as prison abolition movements had begun to roll out across the magical world (they both agreed the prison was utterly barbaric in its origins and past use of Dementors as guards), or the introduction of house-elf, centaur and goblin representation on the Wizengamot (about bloody time!).

He was proud he was in the loop enough with British magical politics enough to keep up with Rose, whose voracious appetite for knowledge had not slowed with age.

Sam also took the opportunity to revel in his time with Rose in quarantine, where her guard was so much lower than usual - he bodaciously flirted with her… when they weren't busy discussing literally every topic under the sun.

.

This wasn't too often though, they barely ever stopped talking, when Sam was awake that was.

He was still weak, unable to recover to Rose's satisfaction, despite her best efforts.

Sam often slept the afternoons away in exhaustion, and sometimes, as Rose tried to read alone in the living room without Sam to distract her, she ended up staring at the stark white walls of the quarantine quarters, feeling an overwhelming sense of hopelessness come over her.

With every passing week that he wasn't healing, the Scrofungulus could be growing, taking hold deeper and deeper in his body, unable to be rooted out.

.

It was easy to be distracted when he was awake, he was so full of life, all biting comments and razor sharp wit, yet kind and sweet in the most thoughtful ways.

Alone, listening to his wheezing breaths, Rose stared and stared at the blank whiteness, and eventually she got so cross with those walls, she set about ordering in some paints and customising them some.

Sam got right on board, painting and magically enlivening their creations to move in subtle ways.

While neither of them were particularly good artists, their witchcraft and wizardry was competent enough to enchant the images with interesting personality and storytelling qualities, just like the paintings that filled Hogwarts.

Soon the walls were covered in flowers, gently swaying the breeze, a Re'em gently crashing through over-inflated cups, saucers, plates and cutlery, a cartoon Al whizzing across the walls on a Firebolt 3.0 and all a manner of magical creatures.

Animated stick figures also featured heavily, in an homage to their previous communications, Sam still represented by a grossly oversized silver and green tie and Rose with two extremely large red plaits.

.

That particular day, of course, ended up with Sam and Rose brandishing pain brushes at each other in a paint-day turned paint-war.

While Rose had the upper hand physically, Sam's wand was raised too, controlling a range of brushes - sky blue, magenta, vermillion and fern green.

Rose feinted with her left hand to distract Sam and moved in close under his outstretched right arm to lick paint cleanly along his right cheek.

"Ughhhhh" Sam groaned loudly in disgust, he quickly wrapped both his arms around Rose's waist and swung her around laughing raucously.

He moved his face close to hers attempting to wipe the pastel pink paint covering his cheek onto Rose's forehead.

Instead of struggling away Rose giggled, reciprocating Sam's bear-hug by snaking her arms, paint brush and all, around Sam's neck - careful not to disturb the bandages covering his Scrofungulus.

.

Suddenly, their harsh breathing from running after each other with brushes and too much laughter was all that could be heard, and the paint-war fell away as the absolute proximity of their faces to one another filled their consciousness.

Their smiles dropped as they came into the awareness of exactly where each arm was flush against the body of the other, the contact almost burning with intensity.

The tension that had been building was reaching breaking point and Rose could barely see anything outside Sam's piercing grey eyes and unreadable expression.

As they breathed together, Sam whispered "I like breathing the same air as you, it's invigorating."

Rose's lip corners tugged upwards and she leaned even closer, just millimetres away from his lips, breathing consciously out as he breathed in, and breathing in as he breathed out.

A few more lungfuls of air was all she could manage before she lifted her lips to his and finally succumbed to the sweet release of passion.

.

His lips were full and moved strongly against hers, drawing her in with teasing bites then pushing her back with long sweet kisses.

Her hand dropped the brushes as she forgot of the existence of mere objects, all-consumed by the fulfilment of a kiss; weeks, months, years in the making.

A light-headedness overtook Sam as Rose's sweet lips moved so effortlessly to pull his heart right out of his chest and send his stomach yo-yoing through his being, like falling slowly.

He pulled away to survey the sight of Rose, so keenly pressed against him, her body so perfectly interlocked with his own.

.

"Rose?" he whispered.

"Yes?" she breathed out, almost in exaltation.

Pulling out the vermillion-dipped paint brush from behind her back, he licked the brush clean across the bridge of her nose and finished with a dab on the tip.

Her mouth dropped open in gaping surprise and she squeezed out a cry of indignation.

"Scorpius Malfoy I am going to kill you!"

And just like that the chase was back on, paint splattering everywhere and across their clothes and bodies until they crashed down into a heap onto the sofa, laughing and moving straight through the moment of the kiss - both unsure of where they were heading, except that it deeply involved the other.


	6. Sleeping Beauty

"No.. his symptoms aren't changing, but he's not recovering the way I hypothesised in my original treatment plan - I'm worried about what this prolonged bout of Scrofungulus could be doing internally - I think I need to get in there and look around."

Sam had a Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Extendable Ear, snaked through the door of his bedroom, trying to hear Rose's muffled conversation with a senior Healer through the door of the quarantine zone.

Another person's hushed tones made it through to him, "Exploring internally is far too invasive, I think our only course of action is a magical coma - take the stress of daily functions out of the healing process, give the body full-time-"

Rose responded in a quiet but angry tone, "No, no way, 25% of patients never wake up from magically induced comas-"

.

"Healer Weasley, those are the best odds you're going to get. The odds of recovery after over 2 months of intensive treatment with no improvements? They're already low - this is a fungus that is not being shaken out, even with the best care Britain has to offer. It's been too long, he's only going to deteriorate from the side effects of our potions and then the Scrofungulus will take a true hold on his organ systems."

.

Rose's started pacing in front of the door, her hand on her forehead massaging her temples as she felt a stress headache coming on.

She was trying to process what Healer Greanleaf was proposing but her heart could barely take it.

A coma was a last-ditch attempt to save a dying patient.

A dying patient.

Her pulse raced as she felt her body start to overheat from the overwhelming urge to break down and cry.

Sam could not be dying, he just couldn't.

"There has to be another way Healer Greenleaf, please, this patient means a lot to me-" her voice cracked.

.

"I know Mr. Malfoy is a childhood friend of yours, and if you're too close to this case to think clearly, you have an ethical obligation to step down as his primary healer."

"No," Rose immediately snapped back, "I'm fine, I'm being as professional as I have ever been, I just want the best possible outcome."

"And the only way he will get that is with a magical coma Healer Weasley. Please, be reasonable"

.

From the ensuing silence Sam knew that the senior Healer must have left the door and he jumped back to his bed, stuffing the Extendable Ear beneath his pillow to keep up the pretense that he hadn't been listening in on the conversation.

He got back to his bed just in time as Rose knocked at the door, "Sam, can I come in?"

"Yes, of course."

Rose's face was flushed and even though she tried to portray calmness, Sam knew she was upset.

She'd never really mastered the art of hiding her feelings the way he'd been taught to, with his Malfoy mask of stony composure.

"What's wrong?" he asked, moving over on the bed so she had space to sit down. He patted the spot next to him.

.

"No, no nothing's wrong, we have a new treatment plan and it's the best plan of action, and everything is going to be fine," Rose adamantly stated as she sat down on the bed, trying to seem confident to convince herself as much as him.

She could feel herself tearing up, but she knew that really _was_ unprofessional and she was determined to prove Healer Greenleaf wrong.

She was a great Healer, even though she'd only been practicing for 2 years.

She'd graduated at the top of her cohort, had top pick for this job, and what she lacked in experience she made up for in extra reading, research, study and compassion.

She was not going to let anybody else administer his care.

"Your best possible shot at recovery means a change of strategy. It's been 2 months and what we're doing isn't working."

.

She took a deep breath to steady herself, "We need to place you under a magically induced coma, so your body doesn't have to worry about day-to-day stresses like digesting food and increasing your heart rate, so you can have a better chance at healing."

"Yeah, that makes sense," he nodded.

Rose narrowed her eyes, "You don't seem surprised."

Sam looked down at the sheets bashfully and pulled out, "Okay so I might have been listening to your conversation through the door with this Extendable Ear."

He pulled it out sheepishly from beneath his pillow, the flesh-coloured string dangling from the fake ear onto the bed.

Rose rolled her eyes and scoffed at him, pushing his shoulder playfully, "How did you even get that in here?"

'Of course Sam had been eavesdropping on his Healer's treatment plan discussions,' Rose thought to herself, 'I should have known better than to mumble through the door and expect that to stop him.'

"I never go anywhere without one, it was in my pocket the day I got thrown into quarantine with you," Sam wrinkling his nose mischievously.

.

"Well in any case, I think they'll be sending in the draft for the coma soon, we probably don't have much longer before I have to administer it, unless for some reason you want us to wait."

Smiling, he tucked Rose's fringe behind her ear and leaned closer to her, "I just have one last request, and then you can send me to sleep any time you like."

Rose couldn't help but smile too, "Well that depends on what you want. Is it something easily smuggled into quarantine?"

Shaking his head Sam looked down, "There's really no need to smuggle anything."

.

There was only one more thing Sam wanted before he was put to sleep, potentially never to wake again.

Rose knew that they'd been skirting around the issue for weeks, ever since their kiss.

While they hadn't kissed again, moments of intimacy had passed more and more frequently between them; longer touches, hand-holding, deeply earnest compliments - sometimes Rose felt heady with emotion, like she was being swept up on a rising tide of joy, then falling in a death-drop from a broom only for her fall to be cushioned by a warmth spreading across her chest.

She wasn't in the least bit surprised when he told her what his last request was.

"I want to know that what we have is real, tangible. That it's not just all in my head. That you feel the same. I need us to be honest with each other about, well, _us_."

Rose shifted over to sit even close to him, lifting a hand to his face, "Of course I feel the same. I just didn't know if _us_ , was something you wanted to deal with on top of getting better."

Reaching up, Sam clasped Rose's hand and turned his head to her palm, kissing it gently and sending shivers of anticipation down her spine.

.

"Well I do, in fact I think it will be what helps me get better."

Rose lifted her other hand to his face and cradled his head in her hands, staring deeply into his red-rimmed and tired grey eyes.

She pulled him oh so close, but stopped right before their lips met.

"This is real Sam. You give me shivers right through my whole body, you always have and this time, I'm not afraid of that."

They stayed like that, suspended in space for one breath-taking, aching, moment that felt like a lifetime, before Sam finally moved forward pulling Rose's whole body into meet his lips.

His heart felt like it was going to beat right out of his chest as he held her tightly, like it was the last thing he might ever do.

.

Rose grasped him tightly too, hooking her hands around his neck and truly letting herself go for the first time since Sam had come back into her life.

Even as they'd grown closer, they always kept just far enough from each other to keep things light, casual, joking - nothing serious. But in this moment, they both knew that this was the last chance they had to express how they felt before it might be all too late.

.

Sam felt like he was on fire - blood was rapidly rushing to his head, his lips exploring every part of Rose he could reach; jaw, neck, lips, cheek.

He felt her hands scrambling to find a hold on his shirt, just so she could keep grabbing, clinging, pulling him closer.

Finally Rose could release all the anxiety and tension that had been weighing her down, she could forget about her responsibilities as his Healer, forget about treatment plans and protection charms, potions and salves and just be present.

Breaking away to take in a breath of air Rose rested her forehead against his, "Sam," she whispered, cupping his face in both her hands, stroking his cheeks, stubble vaguely scratching at her fingers.

"You are going to get through this, I promise."

"I know Rosie."

And they didn't break away again or speak another word until they heard a knock at the front door of the quarantine zone, to let them know the potions for the coma had arrived.


	7. After I Wake

Rose straightened her robes and walked to the door to collect the potions that would induce Sam's magical coma.

She levitated the phials through the glass compartment they had been placed in, and started walking back towards Sam's room.

Her wand wavered with nervousness - inducing magical comas was nerve-wracking enough even when the patient wasn't your long-lost lover who might never wake up again.

But what will we do if he does wake up?' Rose thought to herself.

Somehow, the thought of Sam waking up and coming back into her life for good seemed equally terrifying.

.

So far since he'd been back in her life, they'd been cocooned up in their own little bubble, away from reality.

Quarantine was completely separated from the outside world, there was no one in there except themselves, and it was so easy to forget about the commitments Rose had back in the real world.

Her mind started drifting back to life before quarantine, before Sam, before he had come flying back in to dredge up old memories and traumas - most worryingly she still hadn't really told him everything about herself, especially her personal life.

Even though she felt guilty for hiding things, it had been so easy in quarantine to pretend like the world beyond their two-bedroom apartment didn't exist.

Sam had a whole life back in India that he'd been building for years, who was to say that he would even want to to move back to Britain based solely on the fact that she had assured him he could?

Just last week, Sam had been explaining how hard he had had to work when he first moved to Bangalore and the friendships and life he'd built with his colleagues there, who all still thought he was coming back.

"First of all, the humidity is insane - I mean, it feels like you're breathing in steam and you can barely function when you first get there. It's not just hot, it's a whole 'nother level."

They were sitting at a small table in the living room eating lunch, a special request Sam had called in to the quarantine zone.

"You have to try this."

Rose looked questioningly at the savoury donuts and various curries and condiments on the table.

Sam smacked his lips, "Come on I'm in quarantine, food is the only joy I have! Just humour me."

.

He had ordered his favourite Indian dish into the hospital, it was called: vada.

The fried donuts were thick and crispy, and so hot on the inside they steamed as you broke them in half to dip into the other dishes, as if they'd just been pulled out of the deep fryer (Merlin bless magical take-out, the chefs had truly perfected the art!).

It was served alongside mutton curry, dhal and potato masala as well as raita (a yoghurt condiment) and a range of different chutneys; lime, mango, pickles - the flavours were intense and Sam gave it his stamp of approval as almost as authentic as vada you found deep in the south of India.

"Hospitality and friendliness is off the charts in India, they think Britts are all cold fish who don't know how to treat guests and can't eat spicy food to save their life, which let's be honest is mostly true."

They both laughed as Sam dug into the food, eating with his hands with gusto, and Rose attempted to follow suit, for his sake.

.

After a moment of silence Rose couldn't help but ask what had been on her mind for a while.

"Do you think you'll go back there? After we get out of Mungos?"

Sam looked up, caught by surprise, a splash of curry comedically dribbled onto his chin, "I mean, I was only supposed to be here for a week - I told everyone I was sick back when I first got here, and then obviously passed on the diagnosis of Scrofungulus so they could all get checked out. Turns out most of my co-worker's had it as well. But they all think I'm coming back when I get better…"

.

His voice trailed off, if he was honest with himself, he wasn't all that sure of himself and on this particular topic.

It was a big decision to make, and he had so many friends and colleagues waiting for him.

Of course he was going back, wasn't he?

But what about Rose?

The only real reason he'd moved to India at the end of 7th year was to adhere to her wishes, and now that that reason was gone he didn't have to live so far away from his family, didn't have to wait for Al to get approval every time he wanted to come over for dinner.

Rose grabbed a napkin and passed it to Sam gesturing at his chin, he quickly scrambled to wipe his face in embarrassment.

.

"I mean, I get it," Rose interrupted his thoughts, "You've built your whole career over there, you have a life you have to get back to."

But Rose was older now, and she knew the feeling of a twinge of regret when she felt it.

She was too wise not say anything when she felt it, "Unless you want to move back here, be with your family again, Al, you don't have a reason to stay away anymore."

Sam smiled tiredly, teasing Rose in order to ignore his conflicted feelings about a very difficult decision he might soon have to face.

"Are you trying to convince me to move back here so you can see my incredibly handsome face more often?" He was joking, but he also wasn't.

Things between him and Rose felt like they could be moving forwards, what if there was the possibility that they could be more than friends?

Would he give that up to go back to his career in India?

Rose scoffed, "As if I would want your clearly poor hygiene and health practices around my hospital! Nobody in Britain leaves a disease like Scrofungulus unchecked for this many weeks Sam, no one."

They quickly moved on to lighter banter, but Rose hadn't been able to get the conversation out of her head since.

.

As Rose walked back into Sam's room levitating the phials of potion to rest on the desk next to his bed, she tried to push down the nervous and tumultuous thoughts running through her mind.

All their future possibilities haunted her as she sat down and tried to focus on administering the potions.

"You don't have to take the drafts right now. Do you want to talk to your parents? Or Al? We can get them to send their patronuses in here or-"

"No, it's fine. I've written them letters," Sam opened a draw of the bedside table next to him and showed her the envelopes inside.

Rose hadn't seen the envelopes before, nor noticed Sam writing them.

"When did you write those?" she asked, confused at why he hadn't told her about them.

He looked up knowingly at her, "I've thought for a while now that I might not get out of here Rosie-"

"Don't be ridiculous, of course you're going to get out of here!"

"Okay... but I wrote these a while ago. Just make sure they get to my friends and family okay? They're labelled."

Rose nodded firmly, but the thought of where Sam's head had been when he wrote them was making her feel a peculiar combination of queasy and angry that was not helping her calm down.

.

"You'll have about one minute before the potions take effect after you drink them. They need to be taken together in quick succession."

Sam picked up both phials and unstoppered them, "Okay. Should I do it now?"

He was doing everything so quickly, Rose felt her vision tunneling and her breath shortening, and all of it was centreing around those stupid phials.

How were they already here? At this moment?

There was a pregnant pause, with both of them not quite sure what to say.

Rose sat down on the bed and placed her hand on his arm, giving it a warm squeeze.

"You can take your time, really, I am not going anywhere, I will be right next to you the whole time. And when you wake up, I'll be here and you're going to move back to Britain and we're going to have a huge welcome home party - the one you should have got when you first landed. All the Weasleys and Potters will be there, Jen and Annie, Cory, Greg and Bee, Adam, the whole Hogwarts gang, everyone you left behind."

.

Rose's voice was quivering like crazy as tears started to fall down her cheeks.

Sam leaned forward, "Come here Cherry."

She moved closer and he gently rested his on her chest, "Rose, after I wake up I'm not going to go back to India okay? And we're going to do all those wonderful things.'

Rose nodded and took a few deep breaths.

Slowly, Sam lifted the vials to his lips and downed the potions one after the other as Rose watched carefully.

.

She couldn't look away as his lips closed around each phial, and his Adam's Apple moved up and down as he swallowed.

And just like that, it was done.

She helped him lie down comfortably in the bed, clasped his hands in both of hers, and as his eyes began to drift shut she whispered something softly into his ear.

"I love you too Rose," he replied, then he kissed her lightly on the cheek and fell into an unwakeable sleep.


	8. Is He Gone?

"I wish you'd say something, anything, make fun of me, call me names, just wake up, please!"

It had been 10 days since Rose had administered the potions for Sam and she was taking to a variety of bizarre tactics to get him to wake up (which she knew, as a Healer would have absolutely zero effect on whether his body was healing, but hey a girl can dream!).

She tried playing loud music, putting on magic light shows and tricks, and now, just straight up yelling at him.

Suffice to say, it wasn't working.

Rose dumped herself into the chair next to Sam's hospital bed, exasperated.

When she had first left the quarantine zone she didn't think she'd get this desperate, or this angry at Sam.

.

He had just waltzed back into her life, swept her off her feet as usual, then leaving her alone, tortured and conflicted over it all - she placed her hands on her cheeks, they felt like they were burning up with frustration.

"Sam, I swear to Merlin, if you don't wake the fuck up, I am going to go barmy in here. I can't work, I can't carry on my life as normal, and I am so sick of this white room, with its blank walls and I'm sick of you sitting there in your bed, _not moving_ , and I am really really over you being in a coma will you _pleeeaaase_ wake up."

Maddened by her helplessness Rose dramatically dropped her arms and head onto the bed huffing.

She rested her eyes for a moment, closing them, just intending to try to calm down but after all the angry yelling she'd done at someone who couldn't hear a word she said, she was incredibly tired.

She quickly fell into a frustrated and uneasy slumber, never quite getting to a deep and fulfilling sleep but rather hovering on the cusp of consciousness with a sense of panic and dread filling her dreams.

.

* * *

.

Back when Sam had first been magically induced into the coma, Rose finally left the quarantine zone for the first time in weeks - she had to go through a process of infection control but once she was cleared, she went home and slept for the longest time.

She hadn't realised just how much work it was being Sam's full-time carer and as part of safe work practice she wasn't allowed back into her Healer's robes at St Mungo's for two weeks.

Knowing Rose, her work ban was quite likely to drive her mad but her superior Healer Greenleaf wouldn't budge.

After she got out of quarantine she didn't feel like socialising or trying to get back into normal life - she couldn't escape the feeling that she was running from reality, unable to face the real world, her real life, until Sam was better.

.

After she'd taken a few days off to rest and recuperate she went straight back to Sam's room to visit him and stay by his side, vigilant and hopeful that the coma was healing him.

Nothing in his condition had substantially changed and he was being cared for by a rotation of different Healers

Thankfully (probably out of fear for their own lives) the Healers let her back into the quarantine zone regularly and continued to clear her for signs of Scrofungulus on her way out each time.

Dressed in plain clothes and without her Healer robes, Rose somehow felt less sure of herself at Mungos, and absolutely brimming with a whole host of anxieties - Sam's health, the future, the dark cloud of truth that she had been hiding from him.

.

She tried not to let her mind wander into hopelessness, but it was hard.

How could she have faith in a course of treatment she had resisted?

The first time Rose came back to visit Sam after his coma had been induced, she sat impatiently, listening for the go-ahead from Sam's Healer.

She realised the 'living room' of the quarantine quarters was now spotlessly cleaned, sterilised and set up like a waiting room.

The threshold before Sam's hospital room.

"You may now enter," a voice called out, and Rose walked as quickly as she could through the door into Sam's room.

.

When she saw him her eyes immediately teared up, he was completely motionless, and horrifically pale against the white sheets of the hospital bed.

The room had obviously been rearranged into a more conventional hospital room.

It was awful.

She walked up to the side of Sam's bed and reached out to grasp his hand, but his primary Healer, Healer Greenleaf, stopped her with a light touch to the shoulder.

"Healer Weasley, you know that's not a good idea. You may have been decontaminated and ruled non-infectious but any further contact could change that-"

Rose responded harshly, eyes flashing dangerously in defiance, "I'm keeping an eye on symptoms and taking preventative treatments, I have been for weeks. And you can bet that if I have Scrofungulus I'm not going to let it rage unchecked like this buffoon."

Then her voice softened, "Please."

Healer Greenleaf took a deep breath in and sighed, "Just be careful Rose."

She took that as acquiescence, "Thank you Healer Greenleaf," she breathed out as she lent down and grasped his hand.

.

"Will you give me an update on his treatment, is it working?" Rose queried, while casting her eyes over Sam's form for any sign that he might be stirring.

"You know how it is with magically induced comas, there's no way to know except when there's a change in condition. Unfortunately, so far there's been no change."

Rose raised a hand to subtly wipe away the moisture from her eyes, "Okay, thanks Healer Greenleaf, I appreciate it."

"All right dear, I'll leave you be."

Healer Greenleaf swept out of the room, lime green robes rustling as Rose sat down in the chair next to the bed, bowed her head and wished with everything in her being that Sam would wake up.

.

* * *

.

When Rose groggily felt herself coming back into wakefulness, her back was aching from the position she'd been in, stretched from the chair over to the bed.

She stood up and shrugged her shoulders, and as she opened her eyes properly and the room came into focus, she noticed that Sam's hospital bed was empty.

It was neatly made up, it looked unslept in, and it was empty.

She started breathing in short shallow breaths, thoughts racing through her mind -

"Is he gone!? Is he gone?"

A deep horror washed through her and ripped into her insides as she felt a panic attack taking over her whole body.

\- _he's gone- he's gone - he's gone_ -

'The bed would have been unmade if he had just woken up' a voice rang through her mind.

She screamed out his name, "Sam? Sam!"

But after a few more seconds she couldn't talk, she could barely breathe, she could barely live, she felt like she was dying.

When Rose first started having panic attacks as a child, she had decided she would learn to manage and control them well before she started Hogwarts.

She didn't want to have any conceivable barriers to her education and had trained herself in a variety of methods to pre-empt or react to them.

It had been more than a decade since her last one, but with Sam gone, Rose felt like she had absolutely no control over her mind or body.

\- _he's gone - he's gone - he's gone_ -

'If he isn't here anymore, in this room it's because he's been taken away because'

\- _he's gone - he's gone - he's gone_ -

Sobs started to wrack her body as thought after thought crashed through her.

\- _he's gone - he's gone - he's gone_ -

'Why didn't anyone wake me? What, are they trying to spare me? Because this was infinitely worse, where was he?'

\- _he's gone - he's gone - he's gone_ -

She felt hands on her shoulders shaking her, but she couldn't hear what they were saying, couldn't see through her tears, through the noise inside her own head and her sobs pounding through her ears.

 _\- he's gone - he's gone - he's gone -_


	9. Nothing Is Simple

"Rose. _Rose_. Look at me!"

Through her hysterical tears, Rose could see someone immensely far away, saying her name from across an abyss, echoing, out of focus.

"Rose you need to calm down," she heard the voice call out, a reverberating refrain.

She tried to fight her way back into her body but her mind had separated itself, unwilling to feel unbearable ache in her chest.

Sam was dead. He was dead and no one had even thought to wake her.

How could she come back to that kind of reality?

.

"Rose, are you with me?"

She felt hands grasping her face, someone trying to get through to her but everything in her mind was static - fuzzy, broken, like swimming through fog.

All she could see was Sam's face; the scar sitting near his right eyebrow, his silvery blonde hair ruffled and unkempt. It cut her to her core.

She was so consumed with him, she was hallucinating his face, so obsessed with the person she'd just lost she could see nothing but what she longed for.

She squeezed her eyes shut to try and get him out of her head, whimpering, "He's dead, he's gone, he's not really here."

.

Then through the darkness she suddenly registered the all-too familiar voice, "Rosie, I'm right here, can't you see me?"

She opened her eyes back up and there was Sam's face again, filling her vision.

Was she on a death plane?

She swung her hands up his face to test if he was real, fully expecting for them to swing right through the air and see his body disappear into smoke.

Instead, they made contact, smacking hard against his cheeks.

"Ow, what the fuck Weasley? What was that for?"

She had just slapped her hands hard into Sam's face, her hands still gripping him as his eyes began to water, smarting from the pain.

She sniffed, "Your… your bed was empty and all made up when I woke up and you were gone-"

Sam groaned, "You barmy git, I went up to use the loo and I made the bed. I'm a fully-grown man, not an animal. I am _real,_ Rose - OW!"

Rose had reached over and pinched him, hard.

"When you're unsure if something's real, you're supposed to pinch yourself!"

But the pinch was really just the beginning of a series of smacks.

"How - dare - you - scare - me - like - that!" Each word was punctuated a slap to the arm.

.

"I thought you were fucking dead Sam! Do you know how horrible that was? _Wake a girl up next time_."

"You are no longer testing if I am real or a hallucination, you are just being cruel. I demand you cease manhandling me immediately!"

Sam laughed through the pummeling and wrapped his arms around Rose until she could no longer reach to hit him.

She snaked her arms around him too in an iron-grip, and cried into his hospital gown.

"I really thought you were gone," she sniffed and buried her face into his shoulder again as more sobs wracked her body.

"You can't get rid of me that easy, Weasley."

And they stayed there, wrapped together on the ground until Healer Greenleaf came in and asked them what in Merlin's name was going on.

.

* * *

.

"He's a picture of good health. The Scrofungulus has completely subsided, he looks rejuvenated and well-rested after the coma, I can't think he'll be staying at St Mungo's longer than a few more days," Healer Greenleaf reported back to Sam's parents, Al and Rose as they stood around his hospital bed.

Sam grinned, "Yesss! Hear that, 'picture of good health', now about this 'few more days' thing Healer. Could we say one more day and call it even?"

Healer Greenleaf smiled but shook their head, "Mr. Malfoy, we will keep you for monitoring until I am happy with your progress and then you will be discharged when you are ready."

Sam's mother Astoria wrapped her arms around him and breathed a sigh of relief, "Mummmm, gerrof me, gerrof me," Sam muttered but he didn't shake her off with any real force.

He knew she was just thankful he wasn't going to die, he shuddered to think about how she would have felt, waiting all those weeks unable to see him, unsure if he was going to make it out of St Mungo's alive.

Astoria wiped a tear from her eye gracefully, "Healer Greenleaf, I can't thank you enough, honestly, and Rose, all the work you did caring for him."

.

"It was nothing Mrs. Malfoy, I would do it again in a heartbeat," Rose blushed and looked down at the ground.

Al ruffled Sam's hair affectionately, "I knew you'd pull through Sam. And now you can finally come watch me play a bloody game of Quidditch! 7 years in the league and you've never come to one of my games! Some best friend you are."

Al harrumphed dramatically, yet still with an ecstatic grin plastered across his face.

"I can't wait, I'm sure you've significantly improved your game since your mediocre Seeking at Hogwarts."

"Mediocre? We whooped your asses enough times to win the Quidditch Cup three times!" Al whined, but he still smiled.

"I am so glad you're out of the woods Sam, you really had me scared there for a while all comatose. Anyway, I've got practice and I'm already late - totally worth it mind you."

Sam and Al exchanged a long hug, and Rose got up to leave too, but Astoria walked over to her and touched her on the arm.

.

"You don't have to go dear, Draco and I were just leaving. We really can't even begin to express our gratitude in your Healing work and assistance in bringing Sam through to recovery."

"You're welcome" Rose murmured, thinking curiously about how she'd barely ever seen Sam's parents.

During their Hogwarts years Rose and Al's parents hadn't ever really wanted to let them go to Malfoy Manner, especially Hermione.

"There is too much trauma and evil held in the walls of that house," Hermione had always maintained, "I don't know how Draco lives there."

Apparently how Draco lived there was by constantly renovating the Manor, knocking down sections and rebuilding, or filling in spaces with earth completely.

It had never been the most appropriate place to visit, what with all the construction, and when they were older, during the Summer they spent more time out in Diagon Alley or muggle London.

.

Meeting Sam's mother now, Rose could immediately see where Sam had picked up his vocabulary and sophisticated mannerisms, they had a lot in common.

Before Rose could say or think much else, Astoria had given Sam another kiss goodbye, nodded her head at Draco and they both left the room, leaving Sam and Rose utterly alone.

.

Rose sat down next to Sam on the bed, pondering whether the timing was right.

She really hadn't been honest with Sam since their whole debacle in Mungo's had started and it had been eating her up ever since he'd awoken and she'd managed to regain control of her senses.

What if he couldn't forgive her?

What if the words they'd exchanged right before he went into his coma were just a symptom of the possibility of death?

What if he was intending to go straight back to India?

Her palms started to sweat and she knew she'd better just try and get it out.

.

"Are you really feeling as well as you say you are?" Rose asked looking over Sam's face, he did look healthy as far as she could tell without examining him.

He nodded, "Yeah absolutely. That coma really did the trick."

Rose's mouth twitched as she tried to form sentences, "I, umm, I wanted to talk to you about what we said before you went into the coma?"

It was unusual for Rose to stutter or falter in her sentences, she'd always been such a fast-thinker, firing back insults and overly-intellectual sentences with ease.

Sam thought to the soft exchange of 'I love you', the conversation that what they had was real… that there really was an 'us' between them. His expression dropped, "You didn't mean it. I know, we were really caught up in the whole near-death experience, I completely understa-"

"No, that's not it at all. I meant what I said, I did. I just… I want you to know the whole truth about me, before we get in too deep. I didn't tell you everything while we were in quarantine. I didn't know how to bring it up, and I didn't want to, because I was… Well, to be honest I was falling in love with you and I didn't want anything to get in the way of your feelings for me, but I know that was really selfish and wrong of me."

.

Disappointment spread across Sam's face, he didn't try to hide it.

He knew he could be completely open with Rose, besides, he knew how much she had always hated his ability to hide his emotions.

Sam's thoughts started racing with the possibilities of what Rose could have kept from him.

What hadn't she told him?

His heart-rate picked up and his stomach lurched nervously, dreading her next words.

.

"I was dating someone before you came to St Mungo's."

Sam's heart dropped, he felt like he was falling off a Quidditch Broom and the ground was rushing ever-closer.

How could he have been so stupid?

Of course she wasn't single, she was too amazing to be single!

"Her name is Aaliyah. We met at St Mungo's around 6 months ago - she's a Healer too. We had been dating for around 3 months before I got caught up in quarantine with you and… I've seen her since I got out of quarantine and you woke up."

To say Sam looked confused would be an understatement.

"You're dating a _witch_?"


	10. It's 2030

"Did you know this was going on?"

Al sighed heavily, "For the one-hundredth time, _of course not_. She's kept it a secret from practically everyone in the family, which is strange but understandable, she probably didn't want to have a whole conversation about her sexuality."

Sam was pacing the length of Al's living room, panicking over Rose's revelation that she had been dating someone before Sam had come crashing back into her life.

Al's flat was located in Bristol where he'd moved after Hogwarts to be the youngest Seeker in history for the Tutshill Tornados.

Of course he'd gotten offers from Puddlemere, the Wasps and the Falcons but they'd all been reserve team positions. Plus, as a Potter-Weasley, he'd wanted some distance from his family (which clearly wasn't working out well as his best friend anxiously obsessed over his cousin and her latest bombshell).

"I mean, it makes sense, of course she wasn't single. What would be the chances of me randomly showing up with Scrofungulus after 7 years of never seeing one another, while she was single? I was so obtuse, but I can't believe she lied to me about it all this time!"

.

Sitting on the couch watching Sam pace back and forth, Al asked himself what he ever did to deserve being thrown into the middle of… whatever the fuck this whole mess was.

Sam and Rose had always had a strange and intense relationship, one minute close friends, the next barely speaking.

But this? This was had flown beyond all previous levels of bizarrity.

'Absolutely barmy, the lot of them' Al thought to himself as he tried not to roll his eyes, and leaned into the cushions, resolving to humour Sam until he wore himself out.

"Sam, I just want to remind you that for the most part in Mungo's, Rose was either getting to know you again or she thought you were fucking dying."

Al held in another sigh, "And not like, long drawn out death with time to tie up your loose ends, but like, this is it, can't even see your family and friends to say goodbye, not going to make it, _finished_ , kind of dying. I mean, she owled your Death letters for you! Thank you by the way, I was very touched and no, I don't blame you for making me keep up the estrangement between you and Rose, you've always had an incomprehensible relationship to me."

Sam finally took a moment to pause and reflect, "Thanks Al - I just really needed to apologise, it can't have been easy for you and I am so glad you stayed in my life."

He loped over to the couch mopingly and sat down heavily, leaning his head onto Al's shoulder, "What am I going to do Al?"

"I don't know Sam," Al replied quietly, "All I know is Rose would never intentionally hurt you, she was probably trying to protect you, especially by the time you'd both developed feelings for each other and you were so sick."

.

Sam looked dejectedly down at his hands, fiddling with the nails, anything to try and distract himself, "She told me she loved me, and I believed her… but you're exactly right, she was probably just being nice because she thought I was going to die."

Before Sam could even blink a pillow had boofed him in the head.

He sat up straight and glared over at Al in shock, " _What was that for?_ "

Al snorted cheekily, "You've been throwing yourself a pity party for the last hour and whenever I try to offer an explanation, you just twist it into a negative. Do you really think Rose is the kind of person to lie about loving someone? She'd never do that, she's always been far too closed off emotionally!"

They both burst out laughing, you know the old adage, it's funny 'cause it's true.

Besides, sometimes you have to laugh... or you'll cry.

.

Sam finally felt the panic and stress ease away with the laughter, "I know I'm being ridiculous, I've just never had to deal with anything this complicated before."

Finally letting out the eye-roll he'd been holding in all morning Al sniped back, "Oh really, wiping her memory after years of tortured friendship and then going to live in India just because she asked wasn't complicated?"

After a long pause, Sam burst out laughing again, "Shut up you twit," he groaned.

Because of course, Rose had always been the most complicated thing in Sam's life, and she always would be.

.

* * *

.

Rose was lying on a couch with Bee, Annie and Jen sitting around Bee's living room in her flat in London, ready to support her through yet another Sam-related disaster.

"You know, I really thought you'd left this stuff back at Hogwarts and that going to Healer school and being accomplished in your profession would have ended all this Scorpius-bloody-Malfoy drama," Bee quipped from her seat on the floor by the coffee table, steadily making her way through the cheese and cracker platter she had laid out.

Bee's apartment was right around the corner from the Leaky Cauldron so she could get to work at the apothecary and potions shop she owned with Greg in Diagon Alley.

Being smack-bang in the middle of London, it was also the most convenient house for the girls to gather in, especially when Rose was in crisis mode.

Rose sighed, "This is why I need you all, I know you're all very grown-up and successful women, but you're the only ones who can help me right now. Nobody else gets my history with Sam, everything that we've been through-"

.

Jen spat out her tea as she failed to hold in a laugh and everyone recoiled with a chorus of 'Ewww', 'Jen control yourself' and 'yuck yuck yuck it got in my eye'.

After Jen's coughing fit was over and everyone had wiped off the spray, Jen finally managed to contribute something meaningful that wasn't just tea-backwash.

"Everything you've been through? Honestly Rose, you're the child of war heros and your Mum's about to become the Minister For Magic, you haven't exactly had the toughest life. When my parents came here from Laos, they had no idea what they were fucking doing. They were just trying to find some stability here after the Laotian Ministry all but deported them."

Bee piped in, "Yeah for admittedly questionable activities involving muggles and money - they were running a charmed circus and tricking muggle tourists, you're lucky you didn't end up at a witch's orphanage Jen."

Jen waved her hand as though she was swatting a fly, "How they ended up at West Woodburn charming the muggles to uphold the Statute of Secrecy near an unregistered Magical Creature Sanctuary is inconsequential. The point is they got themselves in some seriously sticky situations, all while trying to balance their hyperactive 4-year-old, constantly getting lost, offending people, struggling with the freezing weather and EVEN THEY HAD THEIR SHIT TOGETHER MORE THAN YOU ROSE WEASLEY!"

.

Jen launched back into giggles so hard she had to wipe tears from her eyes.

After years of dabbling in all sorts of jobs, still never really able to nail down what exactly she wanted to do with her life (and constantly complaining about it) Jen had been offered a position at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes as a developer, which really meant she'd only gotten even better at poking fun at everyone and everything, and was constantly experimenting with new spells and nifty wandwork.

As Rose huffed, Jen attempted to charm the teapot on the table to do a jig, while Annie started listing off all the utterly ridiculous things Sam and Rose had done to each other.

"Everything she's been through," Annie chided back in air quotes, "HAH, you mean the whole cold hard rejection of teenagehood which lead to years of bad behaviour? Ooh ooh and that poor girl Isobel who got caught in the cross-fire, then you asked him to _wipe your memory_ AND HE ACTUALLY DID IT."

She gasped dramatically and flipped her mousey brown hair over her shoulder before continuing, "Merlin, then you forced him to leave the country, no _the hemisphere_ , and now, you literally saved his life and fell in love with him while dating someone else! This is all your own doing Rose."

Rose groaned in confusing mix of embarrassment and annoyance, "Annie, yapping on the Wizarding Wireless Network has made you unbearably theatrical, believe it or not, this living room is not a studio for you to broadcast a bizarre news story-"

Annie gasped even louder and shrieked, "How good a broadcast would this story be! Ooh list all your fave moments."

.

Overlapping voices full of all the ridiculous Sam stories they new suddenly started pouring out:

"Do you remember that time he launched a bludger at her and she got soooo concussed?"

"Merlin's saggy y-fronts! Or that time they went to the Polyjuice Party and ended up accidentally snogging?"

"Nothing will ever beat the time Lily dared Sam to dance with Rose and if he didn't do it he'd have to strip naked and run around The Great Hall!"

Every ridiculous memory only caused more and more guffaws of laughter until Rose had turned a violent shade of pink and covered her face with a pillow.

.

"Wait," her mind catching something even through the veil of intense embarrassment, "It was Lily who dared Sam to dance with me? The bint!"

Everyone had made it a point to never reveal who had made the dare but after all these years Annie had finally let it slip…

That only made everyone laugh even harder, until Bee held her belly, "Ow ow, I ate too much cheese to laugh this hard-" which sent everyone into another tizzy, clutching their sides in pain from laughter-induced stitches.

Even though Rose was mortified, she she could see their point.

She and Sam had made many absurd, outrageous and (with hindsight) hilarious decisions that were entirely their fault, and this was honestly just the cherry on top of a very unstable and strangely flavoured ice cream sundae.

As she put her hands up to her flushed face to try and cool down and return to an even vaguely normal colour, she thought about what made all of this so much harder to navigate.

Aaliyah.

.

Aaliyah was the amazing Healer Rose was dating. She had topped her class in Healer School, had an incredible way with patients, all the kids absolutely loved her, and her record with treatment plans and recoveries was impeccable.

She knew exactly how to communicate how she felt, she was mature, she knew how to support Rose, but also open up and be supported when she needed it.

Aaliyah was one of the kindest, most interesting and beautiful people she had ever met, Rose had spent many a lunch break gazing shyly at her beautifully twisted black dreadlocks and dark radiant skin until she'd finally gathered up the courage to talk to her.

How could she possibly end things with Aaliyah, just because Sam and come back into her life?

"Seriously guys, you've met Aaliyah, you know why this is so difficult!"

Their laughter petered off and they all sobered up and nodded in agreement.

There was no arguing that Aaliyah was an absolutely wonderful person and Rose would be crazy end things with her.

Bee patted Rose's shin (the only bit of Rose she could reach from the floor), "Rose, you know we all love Aaliyah, but you and Sam have a history… an unexplored, unfulfilled relationship of love and loss, and you said to his face that you loved him. I don't really think there's much competition-"

.

"Hang on, I think we can all agree Aaliyah is more attractive. That translucent Malfoy look has never been good," Jen snidely commented, only half-joking.

"Jen this isn't about looks," Annie said exasperatedly, "Look, it's 2030, having more than one partner is not that out of the ordinary. You're twenty-four Rose, if there was ever a time to try out some new things, it would be now - it's not like you've shown even the vaguest signs of interest in marriage."

Rose sat up and looked curiously at Annie, "You're right, I hate marriage, I think it's an outdated, boring institution and it makes me shudder to think of it."

Shrugging her shoulders, Annie threw her hands up in a 'well there you go' kind of expression.

"Annie they don't call it 'One True Love' for nothing," Bee vehemently disagreed, scoffing at the suggestion that Rose try and date, have meaningful a relationship and maintain her work-life balance with two different people - it was hard enough with one!

Jen let out a snort, "Who even believes in that 'One True Love' bullshit anymore anyway Bee, I have to side with Annie on this one. I've passed on a lot of guys because I was waiting for the mythical and ever-elusive 'the one', but honestly, they were all pretty great and I could have stayed with any of them, I just wasn't really willing to put in the effort, it's honestly so much work."

.

Rose grew still, mulling it over in her mind, "I've never really thought about polyamory, I mean it's just not come up. I can usually barely get one person to date me, let alone two, but maybe it actually could be an option."

Bee shook her head smiling, but obviously of the opinion that everyone had gone completely barmy, "Look Rose, the bigger question is, what have you told Aaliyah and would either Sam or her even agree to that kind of arrangement? You can't just decide this on your own."

"I've met up with Aaliyah and explained everything, she told me to take my time. She knows about Sam and she said she'll respect whatever I decide, but I haven't broken it off with her."

Rose lay back down on the couch, her head spinning with confusion and possibilities.

An expression that didn't usually come up on Annie's face spread across her features, she was sombre and concerned, "I know this is hard Rose, just to emphasise, we support you no matter what - except if Obliviation is involved, then we're tying you up, stealing your wand and never letting you out of our sight again."

She could only hold her face seriously for a moment longer before she, and everyone else cracked up, trust Annie to be unable to say anything serious for very long without cracking joke.

As they all continued carrying on and organically moved on to other topics Rose relaxed. With friends like this, she knew whatever happened she was going to be all right.


	11. Aaliyah

She was sipping on a cup of tea, warming up from the bristling cold weather outside Diagon Alley when Rose walked into Rosa Lui Teabag, the jingling sound of the doorbell alerting Aaliyah to her entrance.

Their eyes met, with tension but also with care. The past few weeks had been a confusing whirlwind, fraught with all that had happened at St Mungo's while Rose had been in quarantine.

Despite everything, Aaliyah had supported Rose through it all and as Rose made her way over to the table and sat down she couldn't resist reaching out and grabbing hold of Aaliyah's hand.

"Hey," Rose said simply, but her face conveyed so much more; I'm sorry, how are you, I'm so glad to see you.

"Hey," Aaliyah returned with a quick smile and a flick of her dreads. Today they were styled in a half-up half-down do that framed her brown face perfectly.

.

"How are you dealing with the freezing weather? I know you hate the cold," Rose smiled back.

"Better since I got an ear-warming beanie from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, they've really branched out these days, tell your family I love it."

Chuckling, Rose signalled to the waiter and quickly ordered a cup of hot cocoa.

She took off her mittens and coat, her palms were sweating with nervousness anyway.

She tried to hide the slight tremble in her hands and the way her heart was racing, looking at Aaliyah made her heart jump into her throat and she was almost shivering from the adrenaline coursing through her body.

.

"So Sam is completely recovered, I think he's decided to stay in England and... He knows about us. I told him that I'm still seeing you and that obviously, things are complicated."

Aaliyah's nodded but internally she was still waiting for the worst to be over.

She had been patient and supportive, but now she was done waiting.

She needed to know what was going to happen between them and so she quickly blurted out, "Just tell me who you've picked Rose, no matter who it is, I just need to know."

Rose took a deep breath and tried to form the words that she thought might sound crazy, but also might just actually work.

"I'm not breaking up with you. I'm not choosing him over you. Aaliyah, I couldn't bare to end things like this, even the way you've handled this whole situation with me and Sam the last few weeks shows me what a stellar human being you are. I don't want to lose that in my life."

.

Aaliyah's face broke into a grin and she looked down shyly.

"But I can't lose Sam again either. The time we spent in St Mungo's changed me. I realised that I spent so many years hurting him and ruining us and I finally feel like this is our chance to make things right. I want to be with both of you, if you'd be willing to give it a go.

Aaliyah's face twisted from happiness to confusion, "You want to be with both of us?"

"Yes! It's 2030, loads of people are in open relationships. Time's are changing, wizards and witches aren't marrying young anymore and on principle I don't think there's anything wrong with dating more than one person as long as it's all been discussed and we all agree. We never even had a talk that we were exclusive-"

.

"Yeah," Aaliyah cut in, "Because we'd only been dating three months before you got locked up in that quarantine ward."

Rose's eyes welled up, nothing was going to plan.

Desperately she racked her brain for another way to explain, "Please, I know this seems strange but I'm trying to work this out in my head too. But it goes both ways. I get to date other people and so do you. It doesn't mean that I love you any less, it just means that I am in love with more than one person. Can't you understand that?"

Aaliyah dropped her head into her hands as a tumultuous mix of emotions raged inside her.

She had been prepared to lose Rose, she had been prepared to stay with Rose, but she had not expected this kind of proposition from the plain, nerdy redhead she'd bumped into in the halls of St Mungo's.

Aaliyah was angry, but she was also relieved that things weren't over…

Or maybe they were?

Could she really make an open relationship work?

.

"Rose, I need time to think okay? "

Rose's heart slowed down a little. At least she hadn't outright rejected the idea.

"Take as much time as you need, you let me have that when I was dealing with Sam, and I will support whatever decision you make."

Aaliyah went straight from the cafe to the library, to address this issue the only way she knew how - by studying.

The London Library had thousands of books, from tomes on ancient potions development to modern political literature about the state of the Magical world.

Of course, Rose's parents, friends and family family featured heavily in many of the books written after the war - from biographies to historical records.

But where to look when researching a topic like human relationships, marriage, polyamory?

It wasn't a topic Aaliyah felt comfortable asking the librarian about, who was a wizened old witch who looked like she hadn't left the library in decades…

.

As she wandered through the aisles, boot heels knocking along the black and white tiled floor, she took in a deep inhalation.

Is there anything quite like the smell of books?

It calmed Aaliyah and filled her with a sense of nostalgia, for all those late nights and weekends during Healer training she'd spent here, desperately cramming for tests.

The London Library was stacked floor to ceiling with books, covering every topic imaginable.

Surely amongst these towering wooden shelves she could find something about romance?

Taking another deep breath Aaliyah pulled off her gloves, heating up from the warmth of the library, leaving the last of the chilly winter weather behind her and settling in for a long day of research.

 _Dear Cherry,_

 _It's your revived-from-a Magical-coma-and-moved-back-to-Britain, long-lost best friend Jack (fruit) here. I've decided to finally reveal to you the code of our nicknames: hair-fruit colour coordination._

 _I know you needed some time to talk to Aaliyah about what's happened and I totally get that you might not want to see me, but can we please talk? I know everything might not be sorted out yet but I miss you, even just a game of chess would be more than amazing._

 _Also, in case you're interested to know, I'm applying for a job as a magizoologist at a remote care centre in Northern Wales. I'm pretty excited about it._

 _Write back soon,_

 _Jack_

.

Sam signed off with the name he and Rose used back when they used to write in their old Protean-charmed diaries and enclosed the letter in a brown parchment envelope, sealing it with a simple 'S' stamp and some dripping wax.

He paused before he attached it to his parent's owl, heart beating loudly in his chest as his hands hesitated.

What if none of this worked out? What if he was just involving himself in something totally mad?

.

Then he saw Rose in his mind's eye, like she had always been.

Everywhere he looked, everything he did, she was right there, at the forefront of everything.

Rose honestly took the term 'seeing the world through rose-coloured glasses' to a whole new level.

He tied up the letter and opened the window to let out the tawny owl, and a moment later the letter was soaring out onto the breeze, carried by the power of fluffy brown wings and desperate love.


	12. Having Faith

_Dear Rose,_

 _I haven't come to a decision just yet, but I would really like to meet up with you and Sam, maybe over a butterbeer, just so we can get a sense of each other._

 _Would that be too weird? If it's too weird, I totally understand... I guess I just want to know whether this is all going to work._

 _Name the time and place, and I'll be there, I'm on the early shift at Mungo's this week._

 _Love, Aaliyah Shafiq_

Rose folded the letter up and pressed it to her heart.

It wasn't like everything had suddenly worked out, but it was a step in the right direction.

Chest thumping, Rose let out a sigh of relief and tried to slow the adrenaline that had flooded through her when Aaliyah's spotted eagle-owl Penny had swooped into her cottage on the outskirts of Puddletown, Dorset.

Since finishing up her Healer training Rose had moved out of her parent's house to a small, peaceful village near Dorchester.

She could get all of the hustle and bustle of London, the Leaky Cauldron or Diagon Alley after finishing a shift at St Mungo's, but when she really needed to a break, flooing home to the countryside and riding her bicycle around town or to a peaceful view, was much better for a young Healer's sorely-needed recuperation.

Maybe Sam and Aaliyah meeting to talk things through was necessary, before they made a decision. They might as well get to know each other, Rose thought to herself as she fed Penny a few pellets of food.

There was no point putting it off… right? Rose unstoppered a bottle of ink and pulled out her favourite peach-plumed quill to write to Sam with the request, hoping against hope that it would all work out.

"Hey Sam, come on in!" Rose called in an overly cheery voice as she opened the door to her cottage.

She gestured to her living room where Aaliyah was already sitting on an ugly dark purple velveteen couch.

Sam smiled nervously and shrugged off his coat, his heart thrumming along at a much faster pace than usual.

As he wiped his shoes on the doormat he thanked Merlin he'd managed to remember that the weather in Dorset was especially miserable; negative 8° and drizzling, just delightful, no?

.

Thankfully it was toasty warm in Rose's apartment due to a to a few good heating charms and a crackling fire in the living room.

"I was just going make some tea, I'll be out in a minute," Rose practically chirped.

She shook her head, confused at herself. She really was trying far too hard.

'Stop trying to overcompensate with perkiness Rose' she muttered to herself as she walked into the kitchen. .

Filling the kettle with water from the tap and heating it up with a tap of her wand, Rose looked around for viable vessels.

As she grabbed two chipped brown mugs and was struggling with the third, she heard a chuckle from behind her.

"Need some help there Rosie?" Sam smirked, leaning casually against the kitchen benchtop arms folded across his chest.

Rolling her eyes, she set the two mugs down on the counter.

"I guess you can grab the mugs then-"

"I figured, seeing as the chips on those old guys clearly illustrate you don't handle them with enough care," Sam joked, his nerves feeling soothed as he and Rose sank into their usual banter.

.

They walked back into the living room together and Rose bent down to fill a bright red teapot with the water from the kettle, to let the tea steep.

Aaliyah broke the silence, "So Sam, you work in magizoology I hear. You found a job in Britain yet?"

'She's just trying to trying to smooth things over and set everyone at ease. She wants to get to know you, she wants to see if this will work. Just be cool Sam! Easier said than done...'

Sam sat down on the other side of the couch, trying to reply without looking like his mind was racing a mile a minute with one hundred other thoughts about what was happening in this very, very weird gathering.

"Yeah, I've been working in care of magical creatures since I graduated school and I just got an offer for a role at a remote care centre in Northern Wales working with Luna Lovegood. She and her husband are more international wizarding naturalists, but her and Rolf have set up this new centre and were looking for someone to run it. It'll mostly be work with injured or escaped creatures the Ministry doesn't deem a quadruple X and above."

.

Aaliyah nodded thoughtfully, trying to show engagement and keeping her judgment to a minimum (even though she'd set up this whole meeting to see if Sam was down enough for this to work).

"Interesting. Well obviously at our work we see a lot of victims of quad or quint X magical creatures, especially in the kids wards with children who've wandered off and gotten themselves into trouble. Have you had any injuries?"

"Nothing too serious-"

Rose snorted loudly, "Oh yeah, except for your near-death experience via Scrofungulus-"

"Well that was less of an injury and more of a contamination issue - at least I live life to its fullest potential, what kind of town is this anyway Weasley? I never took you for a country bumpkin-"

"We went to boarding school in the Scottish Highlands, what did you take me for, a big city girl?"

.

Aaliyah watched them carefully as the rapid fire continued.

Strangely, they seemed totally at ease with being... rather mean to each other.

It was bizarre, but the conversation trundled along as if it was the most natural thing in the world. She couldn't imagine Rose interacting with her like that, they had such a different dynamic.

Seeing them together though, Aaliyah could definitely see why Rose was attracted to him. He was witty without being aggressive, he had a quirky smirk and a laid-back physicality. They had a fun back-and-forth, were obviously very comfortable with each other and seemed to be very competitive with each other - which wasn't in Aaliyah's nature at all.

Sam noticed that Aaliyah was observing them a little too keenly and tried to turn the conversation into something more inclusive.

"So Aaliyah, you're a Shafiq. One of the Sacred Twenty-Eight."

"Yeah, we've had a long history here in Britain but my Dad's side of the family are actually muggles. Not so sacred anymore, thankfully."

They both chuckled lightly.

"My parents moved to South Sudan to get away from all the pure-blood puritanicalism, right before the worst part of the war - they were lucky they had dual citizenship or they could have been in real danger."

Sam nodded in understanding, "When did your parents move back to Britain?"

"Right before I was born actually, they wanted me to get my enrollment to Hogwarts at birth, no other school was good enough apparently," she said wryly before leaning over and pouring a cup of tea for herself.

.

They chatted amicably for the next half hour, exchanging pleasantries and getting to know one another.

Rose finally relaxed and stopped overcompensating with perky quipps. Surprisingly, everything seemed to be going fine.

Everyone had settled comfortably into the hideous couch, Sam's nerves finally disappeared and his hands had stopped sweating, although externally as usual he looked very calm and collected.

Finally, just when everyone thought the most awkward parts were over, Aaliyah brought up the elephant in the room: their relationship with Rose.

.

"So I've thought a lot about how all thi-i-i-s," she gestured with her pointer figure at all of them in a circle a few times, "could work."

She took a deep breath, "Bottom line is we both love Rose and we want her to be happy, and I don't want to end things with her… So if you feel the same and you think you can accept us all being in an open relationship, we should talk about how we can try and make things work."

"Yeah that make sense," Sam responded, his stomach dropped in nervousness but he kept his composure without a second thought.

Rose her hands start to shake a little while holding her tea cup, she gripped it tighter with both hands.

They were all a little stressed, but there was no way anything was going to work out if they didn't talk this through.

.

"I think the first thing to establish is," Aaliyah paused for a moment, "it all goes both ways."

"So we can all date other people?" Sam pressed his lips together, this was news to him.

Aaliyah raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, it's not just Rose who gets to have all the fun," she said like it was obvious, then she grinned to break the tension.

"We will all agree on what's okay, our ground rules as such. Seeing other people isn't cheating, because we're open, but we can still break people's trust, which is a kind of cheating. So we need total transparency - we should always tell new partners we already have a partner, we can't get overly involved in anyone else's intimate relationships, we should try to care for all our partners equally instead of neglecting one for the other - I guess we'll work out more as we go along but here's something you could both read to get started."

Aaliyah pulled a piece of parchment out of her pocket, it was a duplicated page from a book she had found in the London Library.

She lay her wand over the page and quickly made two more copies and then handed them to Rose and Sam.

.

"This page is a few do's and don'ts, but it's basic. We can make specific rules for us, as long as everyone agrees, and it will just help."

Rose thanked her lucky stars that Aaliyah was such a diligent person, if Rose hadn't been so caught up in everything happening this was exactly the kind of thing she would have done herself.

Sam scanned over the parchment quickly and raised his eyebrow curiously, "So it says here to ensure we aren't overly jealous, what's overly jealous exactly? I mean, we're all bound to be a little bit jealous sometimes…"

"Well we've all got to really think about where that jealousy is coming from and if it's reasonable-"

"But everyone's opinion on how reasonable it is will be different... Besides, jealousy is an involuntary reaction, how can I control it by thinking about how reasonable it is - I'll probably just end up repressing it but that can't be the solution."

.

Aaliyah tried to stop a look of annoyance from flashing across her face.

She was not successful.

"No one needs to repress anything, I'm just saying we can try to think through our jealousy and-"

Sam cut in again, "And what, it will magically disappear? Are we going to Evanesce our own emotions? We are going to feel jealousy, the question I was asking was the difference between overly jealous and appropriately jealous!"

"Well if you stopped cutting me off every time I tried to talk maybe you would know that already!" Aaliyah snapped loudly.

.

She hadn't meant to yell, but her voice was definitely reverberating off the walls…

"Look, you've never done this before either, I just don't get why you're acting like you know what you're doing."

Sam muttered tersely but trying hard not to escalate the situation.

"Well I did actually go and research this, in my own damn spare time, which as a Healer, is hard to come by seeing as nobody stops dying just because my love-life is going to shit."

Rose had been sitting statue-like, watching the friction unfold, getting more and more anxious.

Maybe she should have had this conversation with Aaliyah alone first, and then with Sam?

.

"Let's not fight. I know this is really bloody complicated, and that's mostly my fault."

"It's not your-" Sam and Aaliyah both spoke at the same time, "fault," Aaliyah finished.

"Yeah this is weird," Sam remarked.

They all sat together tensely on the unseemly purple couch, unsure where to go from here.

None of them had really thought things would go completely smoothly but they didn't exactly think it would divulge into a shouting match.

.

Sam sighed, "Look we're here Rose wants both of us in her life. She can't be happy if she isn't with you, so of course I want that for her. She's capable of so much love…"

Sam looked tenderly at Rose, she blushed under his gaze, "That I know."

He reached over and grabbed Rose's hand, which had been clenched tightly on her leg.

"I may feel jealous, but I can barely believe I get another chance at being with you, and treating you right this time. No matter what, I would never let any jealous feelings I might be having be an excuse to invade your privacy, read your personal letters or try to control you. I know that before, I loved you in a selfish way, in a toxic way. I won't ever do that again."

AaIiyah nodded look at Sam, "Exactly. You gotta have faith in yourself to do what's best for the person you love, no matter how jealous you might be feeling. We have to trust that deep down, Rose's love for someone else doesn't change how much she loves you."

Rose took Aaliyah's hand in her other one and squeezed them both tightly. "Yeah, exactly."


	13. Welcome Home

"Sam! Welcome home buddy, you look great," Adam exclaimed as he pulled Sam into (what was about the 20th) bear-crushing hug Sam had experienced that evening.

Adam was right, Sam was looking better than he had in months, with his cheeks rosy with life and no bags beneath his eyes.

He was wearing a grey woollen cardigan that complimented his stormy grey eyes and plain black robes. Rose was so happy to see him looking better, and not just health-wise… He was definitely no longer a scrappy 17-year-old.

Even though Sam's chest felt like it might concave in from the pressure of the hearty hug, a warm feeling spread across it as he hugged Adam back.

Al had adamantly decided to throw a Welcome Home party for Sam, with lots of help from Rose - despite refusing to host the party at his own place.

"My flat is tiny, you're the one who lives in a literal mansion!" Al had exclaimed when questioned where the party was going to be.

.

Dozens of people were currently milling about the ballroom at Malfoy Manor, drinking, eating and hanging out - the room was buzzing with chatter and almost every person there had ecstatically hugged Sam and welcomed him back home.

Malfoy Manor had undergone extreme renovations post-2nd Wizarding War to banish the dark history of the place, in fact it had basically been in a constant state of knock-down re-build, for Sam's entire childhood.

Now, it was brought to life with colourful characters and faces who had all been a part of Sam's life before he left for India. He was rather surprised there were so many people because while he'd kept writing to most of his close friends, a lot of people in attendance were people he'd lost touch with in the last 7 years.

.

Despite the complete new design and look, Malfoy Manor still had all the extravagance of Malfoy wealth.

From the polished wooden floors to the great sweeping curtains that hung from the ceiling to shade the windows in a deep velvety green, there was always something dramatic about gatherings at Malfoy Manor, even when it was a casual party with a self-replenishing food and drink table.

As Adam finally let go of Sam reluctantly, Sam grinned and clapped him on the back.

"You look good too Adam, how have you travels been? International Magical Cooperation really takes you around hey."

"Yeah I just got back from Egypt actually, bloody hot there, I'm glad to be home."

Sam laughed, "Really, this drizzling miserable place? I can't say England's got much on India in terms of weather."

Adam squeezed Sam's shoulder strongly, "Well, whatever the weather, everyone is so glad to have you back Sam. We've really missed you, and Corey's been absolutely uncontrollable since you left - you used to keep him in line with all his gossiping and puppeteering of other people's lives."

.

Corey, having heard his name, diverted his attention from the brie and crackers he was wolfing down, to defend himself.

"Now, to be fair," Corey interjected, "I meddle and mastermind not just for my own pleasure, but for the greater good. Now this is a fact, a fact I say, because without my meddling, do you think that Greg would have ever agreed to go ahead with that potion co-op thing with Bee?"

Adam nearly choked on his butterbeer, "Excuse me, it was me who ran the numbers on the Apothecary-Potion Co-operative Shop and thought it was a good model-"

"Yeah but I _definitely_ convinced his heart."

Adam threw up his hands in frustration, "I don't know how anyone at the Ministry puts up with you Corey, honestly I don't."

"How _dare_ you, I am loved at the Ministry. Loved!"

Sam chuckled heartily at the both of them. Seeing the Hogwarts gang was like coming home all over again. There was Annie, chatting with Lily and Roxanne as they got themselves some butterbeer, Al and Al (Albus and Alice) were deep in discussion over the Quidditch season as they both played professionally, Greg was chatting to Hugo as he set up some equipment for his band who were playing at the party and the Scamander twins looked all too innocent as they chatted with James and Molly - they were definitely up to no good.

Although everyone had matured and grown, their antics were still a sight for sore eyes for Sam. He'd missed them all so much.

.

To be friendly, Sam had invited Aaliyah along to the party, but she seemed overwhelmed by all the Potters, Weasleys, Longbottoms, Scamanders and the Slythindor gang. She'd never really run in the same circles as them at Hogwarts, being a few years older than them, and she felt a little out of her depth.

Standing shyly next to Rose, Aaliyah tried to follow the fast-paced conversation and back-and-forth between the friends, they fired crackers off to each other with such ease - it was like walking into a debating competition.

She wasn't particularly happy when Rose walked off to grab some food, so she looked around to try and have a conversation.

Aaliyah had had a butterbeer with Bee and Rose at the Leaky Cauldron about a month after she and Rose had started dating, so she decided striking up a simple conversation with Bee was her safest option.

.

"Hi, Bee, how are you doing tonight?"

Bee smiled warmly back at her, "Great, it's so good to see Sam again, we've all missed him so much!"

"Oh yeah, that must be great…" Aaliyah tried to sound enthused, but she didn't quite get there.

After waiting to see if Aaliyah had anything more to say (she didn't) Bee tried to move on to another topic of conversation, "Are you glad to have the night shift off from Mungo's?"

"I am right now, but I won't be when I'm stuck with the morning shift tomorrow - patients are actually so much more needy during the day, especially the in-patients," Aaliyah laughed awkwardly, nervously wiping her sweaty palms on her thighs as she tried to come off light-hearted while worrying that she sounded like she was complaining.

.

Aaliyah almost released an audible sigh of relief when Rose came back from getting herself some pumpkin pasties.

"Hey lovelies, you getting along?" Rose grinned at the both of them while she took a bite of pasty.

They both responded immediately overly-enthusiastically, "Oh yeah great," "Having _such_ a great time" "This room is lovely!"

Rose looked at them both curiously and confusedly, but she was quickly distracted by a strange sight.

.

"Jen's been chatting for quite a while with Fred, that's strange isn't it?"

Giggling uncontrollably, Bee whispered softly, "Yeah, it's all since Jen started at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Apparently they're both on the development team and they actually work well together? Who would have thought after all that hexing and cursing back in the day..."

Rose shrugged, "Well there you go."

Aaliyah nodded along as if she knew exactly what hexing and cursing had gone one back in the day, but her memory of Fred Weasley, being in the year below her at Hogwarts, wasn't very strong other than that he and James were well-known pranksters and she had usually made a point of staying away from them.

.

They were all interrupted by Hugo's mic testing up at the front of the ballroom, where he and his band had finished setting up to play at the party. It was a small and intimate gig, so nothing too extravagant, but Hugo never played without properly testing the levels.

Since graduating from Hogwarts, Hugo's music dreams hadn't dipped in the slightest and he'd gone all-out trying to get himself on the radio and playing all the venues, parties, fundraisers and pubs he could.

Hermione hadn't been the least bit impressed that he refused to find stable employment but even she had to admit that he was good. The band, called Erised Evermore, had Hugo on the guitar and singing, his friend Gee Gee singing and on the keys, Suniva smashing out the drums and Eli on the bass.

.

They had a punk aesthetic and flavour to their band, but had toned it down for a slightly more acoustic style for the Welcome Home party, although they fully expected the throng of Weasleys and Potters to dance.

As they tested out their sound system, Rose leaned over and whispered to Aaliyah, "Corey and Hugo used to date. They broke up when Corey left school and it's never been _too_ awkward, but yeah."

Aaliyah felt, for the hundredth time that night like she was playing catch-up to all the confusingly inter-webbed lives of Rose's Hogwarts clique. It wasn't just that Aaliyah had never run in the same circles as them, but the Potters and Weasleys had a certain status and celebrity reputation, which she had never been a part of.

It didn't help that all of them seemed to absolutely love Sam, and that despite being away for 7 years, he seemed to slip effortlessly into the group without even trying.

.

She just didn't want to have to tell Rose how hard it was for her to try and act naturally, when her own circle of friends from Hogwarts had been small and they barely kept in touch.

The only person she knew at the party from her own days at Hogwarts was Dominique, who was hanging in the corner with Victoire and Teddy. She had gone on to become an Auror after school, so their paths hadn't exactly crossed in the last ten years.

That was a long time for anyone to try and pretend they still knew each other, right?

Fighting down a sense of overwhelming discomfort, Aaliyah gave Rose a tight-lipped smile but Rose could tell something was wrong.

"Aaliyah, are you quite all right-"

"I'm fine, what do you mean?" She snapped, giving away how things were evidently _not_ fine.

.

Right as Rose was about to respond, Erised Evermore launched into their first song, which was loud enough to drown out any conversation at the front of the room.

Rosed pushed down her concern and tried to enjoy the music, but Sam, who had been watching the pair could see the tension clear on Aaliyah's face. He knew inviting her might have been pushing her out of her comfort zone, but he hadn't wanted to be rude by _not_ inviting her.

Walking over to try and smooth things over, he leaned close down to Rose, gently moving her fringe out of the way and tucking it behind her ear naturally as he leaned down to speak into it over the music, "Is everything okay? Can I grab you guys anything?"

If Aaliyah's eyes could have rolled back into her skull they would have, but she tried to contain herself.

.

'Trust Sam to be all up in our business taking notice of every tiny little thing,' Aaliyah thought to herself angrily.

And a part of her was twinging strangely at seeing him touch Rose so easily in public. Aaliyah had never felt comfortable with Public Displays of Affection and it sent a pang of frustration through her that everything seemed to come so easily to Sam.

She quickly stalked off from the group before she got any more irritated, making way straight for the door. She was glad she didn't have to try and walk out quietly because the music was distracting enough and the doors to the ballroom were fucking ridiculously huge.

Of course they were.


	14. A Room of One's Own

Shoving the doors aside and hearing them completely block out the music as they closed behind her served to anger Aaliyah even more - of course they were magically sound-proofed, the Malfoys really thought of everything!

'Is there anything this giant, exploding with riches, mansion, doesn't have?' she thought bitterly.

She heard the doors opening again behind her, the blair of music rushing through for a few seconds until the doors closed again and the hallway returned to silence.

It was Rose, but Aaliyah walked briskly away without looking at her, opening the door to a nearby room for privacy - she didn't want just anyone listening in on them.

The room was typically lavish, with lush cream carpet, a circle of couches and wall to wall of bookshelves.

"Aaliyah, what is up with you? Sam was just checking in on me-"

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah right." She chewed her lip nervously and sighed, "He obviously saw me freaking out.."

Rose frowned, "He didn't mean to draw attention to it. You know, this night is supposed to be about Sam. He didn't die, he's back in Britain, people are happy and enjoying themselves. What's wrong?"

"I don't know!" she replied looking down at the ground and trying to control the tears that threatened to spill out.

"You act like you were literally born into this whole crowd Rose. I don't think you realise that most of us, don't fit in like that, don't have family like that, or have houses like this - I mean this manor is ridiculous! You're all celebrities and whether you know it or not, you act like it. Those people out there are Britain's highest end clique of the magical world and you've all known each other forever! You have all this history together and I am not a part of any of it!"

Aaliyah twirled the ends of her dreads anxiously out of habit and re-arranged them over her shoulders.

"We didn't ask to be celebrities Aaliyah, none of this was chosen. Don't you think I'd rather be normal instead of tabloids always lurking ready to ask me for a quote on my mother's latest governmental policy? So yeah, we might be a little over-protected, but we don't know who could be out there trying to take advantage of us."

Rose rubbed her temples and tried to de-escalate from the terse and defensive way she was feeling. She walked over and grabbed Aaliyah by the hand gently. Their eyes met and Aaliyah could see that they were warm and kind with understanding.

"I'm sorry you're feeling like you're not a part of things - we're a pretty rowdy bunch, most of us are family, it's a lot, I get it. And you're right, this manner is way over the top, which is why we constantly give Sam shit for it. Plus we always hit him up for money, Mum's swindled the Malfoys out of thousands of galleons for her charity work."

She smiled and leaned closer to Aaliyah, "Intimacy takes time. I'm talking like at least 6 months until you can remember everyone's names. Just give a chance, please?"

They looked deeply into each other's eyes, and Rose marvelled at the beautiful contours of Aaliyah's face, her brown skin glowing in the lamplight from the hallways.

Rose waited with baited breath, hoping that she'd done enough for now to allay her fears.

Finally, the corners of Aaliyah's mouth tugged upwards and she pulled Rose slowly forward by the front of her deep blue, shimmery dress robes and gently kissed her lips.

It might have been hard and overwhelming inside the ballroom, but in this room together Aaliyah found her ruddy red curls and deep blue eyes, as usual, to be irresistible, and she lost all sense of time, place or thought as she wrapped herself up in Rose.

.

.

Al smirked, "Well look mate, this is what you've chosen to get involved with, this like open relationship thing, I mean I prefer the simple life - one person keeps me plenty busy."

Sam had been debriefing with Al and Adam about how Aaliyah had run out of the ballroom, Rose close on her tail.

"Oh because you've had sooo much experience, Al! You've barely dated anyone."

"Hey, I'm busy, I'm a professional athlete!"

"Yeah, which means you should be drowning in dates, everybody loves an athlete," Adam piped up.

"Athlete, schmathlete, you're the son of Harry Potter. You'll never struggle to find someone interested in you-"

"Which is exactly the problem, why do you think James ended up with a muggle born who had no idea who he was - being wanted because of your father's fame isn't exactly romantic."

"Look, come up with all the excuses you like, you're just afraid of putting yourself out there," Sam shook his head in faux disappointment.

"Says the guy who literally Obliviated my cousin over a romantic spat-"

"Hey, relevance!"

Al sniggered, "You're right, I just like bringing that up, now that I bloody can! God that secret weighed on me for way too long."

Adam looked back and forth between them about four times before yelling "Wait, _what_?!"

.

.

Bee and Greg's heads snapped up at the raucous sounds coming from Adam, Al and Sam who were sitting a few tables over from them.

"What do you think's going on there?" Greg asked, eyebrows furrowed.

Bee smirked knowingly, "Oh I think I have a fair idea."

"Well don't just leave me in the dark, dish!"

"Unfortunately it's not my story to tell, you'll have to catch up with Sam and Rose to get the goss."

"This is outrageous. I might have to start talking work-troubles to motivate you..."

"NO! It's like the one thing we're good at, keeping work at work! It's quite miraculous really."

"It probably helps that we've been friends since we were 11, I mean, we have so much else to talk about! Like gossip between our mutual friends who mysteriously started dating again after 7 years and a few months locked up in a quarantine ward!"

"Merlin Greg just drop it," but one corner of her mouth found itself unable to maintain seriousness, turning itself into a half-smile against her will.

"You always do that when you're trying not to laugh, you smile kind of crooked and I know you're about to crack up."

"Oh shut up," but Greg was right. A few moments was all she had in her and she let out a guffaw.

Deciding to relent and chase up the details with Adam and Al later, Greg changed the topic to something slightly more serious, "So how's stuff going with your parents? Are they still all 'woe is me' that their daughter is almost 25 and _shock horror_ , still unmarried."

"Yeah, the pressure is getting _intense_ , it's like they can't talk about anything else, but I absolutely cannot let them choose a husband for me, they'll get someone who's way too religious, who's probably not even a wizard seeing as there's no statute of secrecy in Bangladesh, it's going to be an utter disaster, I mean what if I have a muggle kid, how will I manage my life torn between two worlds?"

Bee paused to take a breath from the stream of distressed panic garbling its way out of her throat. She could literally feel her temperature rising with the thought of this constant war with her parents that was peppered through every letter, every visit home, every floo conversation and every piece of contact she had with her parents.

"That sounds… tough. It can't be all bad though, can't you tell them your requirements for a husband?

Bee scoffed so hard, she started choking on her own spit…

"Yeah right Greg, as if they'd ever listen to me - they're my parents, they think they know what's best for me. You wouldn't understand, my parents are so lovely and hospitable when any of my friends come to visit, you never see this side of them. Plus your parents couldn't care less what you do, it's not like you know how to navigate this stuff."

"Exactly, they're lovely to me, and they wouldn't want me to think badly of them… which means I kind of have some outsider sway. What if I could offer my help."

Bee could see the cogs were turning in Greg's mind, the way it did when he was figuring out a particularly difficult potion or when he'd finally found a solution to a complex chemical problem with their ingredients.

"What are you thinking right now," she said suspiciously, narrowing her eyes at his idea-stricken face.

"I could help them find someone for you! No one spends more time with you than me, we work together, we've been friends for years, I know you back to front. I could find the perfect guy for you that fits all your parents standards but isn't a total mismatch with what you want, and your parents will be way too polite to refuse my help."

"Gregory Baddock, this is worse than your idea for a new kind of veritaserum with Lobalug venom, please drop this."

"Oh trust you to bring up the Lobalug venom argument to distract me - I'm not so daft as that, even though it was objectively a clear answer-"

"Look, Hugo's band is starting up again."

The music soon filled the hall so that hearing each other was too difficult. Bee breathed a sigh of relief that that was the end of that conversation... or so Bee thought.


	15. An Unexpected Interruption

Aaliyah and Rose were still locked in a passionate embrace when a seemingly stable bookshelf started to silently rotate and Astoria Malfoy walked into the room holding a small ivy green book.

Astoria gasped in shock, quickly started uttering an apology, "Oh! I'm sorry I just came to return a book to the Eastern Library."

Rose immediately broke apart from Aaliyah and turned an incandescent shade of red. She tried to say something but Astoria had turned right back around and headed through the rotating bookshelf once more.

Both Aaliyah and Rose stood in shocked silence until the bookshelf finally closed itself again, then a string of curse words started to escape Rose's mouth.

"Shit, shit, shit! Merlin, this is so so bad, worse than Voldemort's unicorn-sucking fangs," she glared at the door-masquerading-as-a-bookshelf in a panic.

"Okay calm down," Aaliyah said soothingly.

"So someone bumped into us having a little kiss, who cares?"

Rose whipped around, her hands curled into fists, "Calm down! _Calm down!_ That was Sam's fucking mother! Fuck, fuck, fuck, of all the people to fucking walk in on us, _this_ is the worst fucking possible outcome, what the fuck am I going to do?"

Aaliyah knew Rose had a tendency towards foul language, but this was quite another level.

.

Rose knew she had to tell Sam what had happened, he was the only one who could explain everything to Astoria and set the record straight.

All but running out of the room (through the real door, the one with a handle and everything!) they hurried down the hall back towards the ballroom.

Rose pushed open the floor-to-ceiling length doors and had to brace herself as the sound of Hugo's band thrashing multiple instruments with all manner of bizarre spells and enchantments hit her ears.

Aaliyah crinkled her eyes in distaste, thinking that what the band was making, was more like noise than music.

.

They quickly made their way over to Sam, Rose in the lead. When she reached him, she abruptly tugged his sleeve.

Sam, sensing the panic in her touch, immediately looked away from the musical melee and was taken aback by Rose's distressed look.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?"

Unable to even hear herself think over the ruckus, she pulled Sam into the back corner of the ballroom - leaving Aaliyah awkwardly standing near the group, unable to take her eyes off them but unwilling to try and join the conversation. She could tell that Rose was stressed and that her presence would probably only make matters worse.

.

In the back of the room, Rose cast a sound charm to quieten the music and keep their conversation private, a vague shimmering silver bubble grew from the tip of her wand to encompass them and vanished once it had reached the ground.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to explain, "Sam, something awful just happened. Fuck!"

She struggled to find the right words, "Your mother just stumbled on me in the Eastern fucking Library, you know the small one just near the ballroom? Anyway, she… she saw me comforting Aaliyah, we were really close and I'm so worried that she's going to think- she's going to think-"

Sam finished the sentence, "That she caught you cheating on me."

He let out a sigh and lifted his hand to rub his temples; he could feel a headache coming on.

While he hadn't really attempted to hide his situation with Rose, he also hadn't been completely transparent either. It was his business and no one else's, and until it came up naturally he wasn't going to bother explaining… well… anything.

.

Rose was trying to keep herself together but she could feel herself tearing up from the stress, anxiety and shock of Astoria's discovery. Sam quickly pulled her into a warm hug, "Rose I'm going to talk to her and explain everything, don't worry."

She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her eyes into his warm grey cardigan, his chest was ideal for crying on really.

"A month ago, you thought I was going to die… Don't worry about all these little things, they're so much smaller than what we've been through."

Lifting her head up, Rose tearfully exclaimed, "But that's why I don't want to mess things up Sam, we're just getting things sorted out and I feel like I'm already messing up again-"

"You're not." Sam said firmly, in a way that warranted no more discussion. "I will explain things to her and she is going to completely understand what she saw."

She nodded into his shoulder, her eyes tightly squeezed shut, breathing a sigh of relief for the strong, supportive arms around her.

.

Aaliyah watched closely as Rose and Sam embraced for a while and Rose's body visibly relaxed.

She looked so relaxed and comforted in his arms.

Aaliyah was torn. While one part of her wished that she could have been the one to comfort Rose, she also felt a breath of relief wash over her.

It was beautiful to see how Sam knew exactly what to do and say to calm Rose down and be there for her, be present, especially when Aaliyah knew that was exactly what Rose needed in that moment.

A smile tinged Aaliyah's lips as she watched them, a warm feeling bubbling across her chest and down towards her fingertips.

Shaking her head, trying to make sense of her strange conflicted feelings, Aaliyah went over to the food and drinks table to grab some butterbeers for all three of them. Butterbeer could help solve most problems.

.

She walked over to join them and quietly greeted them, "Hey guys, how are doing? Is everything, okay?"

She offered them the butterbeers, which were beautifully chilled, condensation dripping down the brown glass bottles.

Sam and Rose disentangled, Rose cautiously optimistic of the smile still tracing its path across Aaliyah's face

.

"Yeah, I think things will be okay. Hopefully. Thanks for the drinks," Rose smiled back taking one of the bottles.

Aaliyah offered the other one to Sam, "I'm really glad you're here Sam, it actually makes me feel a lot better to know you can calm this one down when she's in a panic", she nudged her head towards Rose.

They all laughed and the tension was broken.

Later, Aaliyah would reflect on this new feeling of relief and comfort that Sam brought her. She would be confused by it for a long time to come, but not altogether put off.


	16. Running From The Pain

In the months that Sam and Rose had been in quarantine, a whole season had swept right by them. The falling leaves and autumnal air was truly over and they were in the grips of winter.

It also meant that Christmas was almost upon them - Sam's parents were overjoyed to finally have him back for more extravagant celebrations (his welcoming home party had not fulfilled their appetite in this respect).

"Sam, Christmas is a time for merriment. Family, friends, holly and mistletoe!" Astoria practically sang as she swept through the kitchen at Malfoy Manor, which sported a huge wall oven, two stove tops and floor-to-ceiling cupboards stocked full of food.

Sam rolled his eyes and waved off his mother as she delved into the piles of groceries, ripping open packages, rinsing vegetables and chopping wildly.

.

Since Astoria had taken charge of the household, the kitchen had firmly become her domain. She loved to cook - but hated to clean, so over the years Draco had become very nifty at charming all manner of brooms, mops, scrubbing brushes and tea towels.

No elves had been employed at Malfoy Manor - not that any wanted to be. After the war, Hermione worked with numerous ex-house-elves to legislate against their enslavement, and abusive families like the Malfoys who had enslaved so many elves, were not looked upon kindly by the elvish community.

Astoria had a strong stance against using houselves anyway, her own family had a history of elf-enslavement and she had hated it from a very young age. She never felt comfortable requesting things or being waited on (what is the point of being a witch if not to use magic to do these every day sorts of things?) and upon marrying Draco had said as much.

Draco had also promptly kicked his parents out of the Manor after the wedding, much to their anger. He purchased a cottage for them far from Wiltshire and visited as often as he could tolerate, but he never quite forgave his father and hadn't wanted him anywhere near Sam while he was growing up.

They kept the mansion in top-top shape all on their own, despite the constant re-constructions - which in any case, were rather necessary. Draco needed to destroy all the evill the manor had wrought, and bit by bit, knocked down and re-built the entire structure.

.

Astoria was like a hurricane and always left a wreckage behind in the kitchen when she was, but it was something Sam had missed immensely during his time in India.

Her cooking, which never relied on a recipe, was one of the most untamable yet heartwarming parts of his mother. You could never convince her to cook a simple dish, there was always something bizarre going on, but you got used to it and Sam truly relished time spent in the kitchen with his mother.

"You always throw such over-the-top Christmas events, I never feel comfortable to just be myself - must I wear dress robes for the ball mother?"

Astoria stopped chopping and stared coldly, "No son of mine will be underdressed for the Malfoy Manor Christmas Eve Ball. If you want to wear an old woolly jumper like that Albus then go spend Christmas with the Potters!"

.

Sam grinned, he had spent Christmas with the Potters all of one time during his Hogwarts years, and his mother was still not over the sting.

"I'm not going to spend Christmas with the Potters, it's my first year back in England! I'm obviously going to get abominably dressed up and prance around for your ball, then come Christmas day I'll get my woolly jumper and wear it right here at the manor. Boxing Day is always a better day at the Burrow anyway - less competition for the leftovers."

Astoria spun around with a thrill of her wand and set a pot of oil to heat on the stove, her eyes lighting up as the flame gently grew.

"Very good, it sounds like a plan," she smiled over at him, vegetables whirling through the air with another flick of her wrist.

.

Normally very prim and proper, the kitchen was the only place every day Astoria truly let her hair down. She was enchanting, and Sam and Draco had spent many an afternoon watching her work (not being silly enough to interfere or attempt to 'help').

A few beats of silence passed before Sam worked up the courage to say what he'd been planning out for a week - ever since Rose told him Astoria had walked in on her and Aaliyah.

"Mother," he paused, waiting for her response.

"Yes," she promptly responded, eyes darting from the various knives lifting themselves into the air and chopping vegetables, to Sam and back again.

"Rose told me you bumped into her and Aaliyah in the library at my Welcome Home and she wanted me to explain."

Astoria breathed in slowly, "Well what's there to explain? You two obviously didn't work out and she's moved on, or back to, what she was partaking in before you got ill. I understand not everything has a happy ending Sam, you don't need to explain."

.

Sam winced, "Yeah, see that's the thing, we have worked things out and we're together."

Astoria suspended the chopping with her wand, "So what I saw in the Eastern library, you've forgiven her for that, after she cheated on you?"

"Well… she wasn't cheating on me. I know about Aaliyah and Aaliyah knows about me, we decided we were okay with it. We're in an open relationship."

Astorias eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "Sam that's absolutely nonsensical, why would you agree to such a thing?"

"Because I love her and I didn't want her to break her own heart just so that she could be with me, or break my own by letting her go."

.

The knives all clattered onto the benchtops as Astoria dropped her wand, "This is ridiculous."

"No it's not-"

"how can Rose possibly care for you fully if she can't even choose to be with you? How are you going to start a family? What future do you have? She is being unbelievably selfish, you can't possibly think this will work Sam-"

"Well unlike previous generations we don't need to get married and have children before we're 25. What if I don't even want that for myself?"

"You don't want what? A normal life?"

Sam ignored her, "I would be the selfish one if I forced her to end things with Aaliyah. How could I do that to her? She was happy before I came back and threw her whole world upside down."

"And she let you, she could have told you right from the get-go she was taken, she could have kept her feelings to herself like everyone else who is already with someone does!"

Rolling his eyes, Sam tried to soldier on, "I want her to be happy and she can't be happy if she's heartbroken because she can't be with someone she loves."

"And what about you Sam, what about what you want and need? Hmm?"

She was keeping her voice well-tempered but Astoria had moved beyond confusion, to disbelief and frustration, the audacity of the Weasleys... All that hero-business had gone straight to their heads.

.

"What I need is to finally be with the woman that I love, even if it's not in the most conventional way."

"You have known that woman for three months and a for a few of them you were comatose Scorpius."

Sam rolled his eyes dramatically, "Oh you're whipping out that awful name just to make me feel guilty now?"

"Is it working?" Astoria replied sharply.

"No, it's not."

He ran his fingers through his hair, this was going more awful than he could have possibly expected.

.

"I can see other people too, it's open, that's the whole point."

"Yes Sam, but if you love someone why would you want to see other people?"

"Maybe because of the apparently absurd idea that I could have feelings for, and love, more than one person at a time!"

"Of course you can, anyone can fall in love with anyone, but it's about commitment. How much of herself can she truly give you if she's off gallivanting with someone else?"

Astoria walked around to the other side of the kitchen benchtop and sat on the barstool next to Sam's.

"I just don't want you to get hurt by thinking that this is going to end well."

.

She reached over to grab his hand but Sam pulled it away, "If Al told me I couldn't be friends with anyone else and I had to cut out all the other friends and family in my life, you would call him crazy. I don't want to tell Rose that she can't love anyone else, not when I know that I'm the one who turned up unannounced and caused all this mess in the first place."

"Sam, you can't let your guilt for getting in between her and her girlfriend dictate everything. These things happen, Rose fell in love, she made that choice and she should face the consequences. Don't let all of that get in the way of what you really need-"

"What I need is Rose."

"Exactly dear."

.

Sam paused for a moment, suddenly weighed down, "We have never gotten the chance to love each other, not properly. I can't give that up."

"Not yet."

"Mother, please just stop it. Not everyone has to live a boring typical life, I'm 24, I can make my own decisions."

"I know you can Sam, I am just worried about the consequences of this particular one. You're running from the pain and that's not the right way to make life decisions-"

Sam bristled, "Are you actually trying to convince me that you've ever made life decisions based on rational thought? You got an arranged marriage! It's not a coincidence you and Dad are both purebloods. You were running from being disowned if you married that muggle-born guy you were dating at Hogwarts."

.

Astoria gasped, her lips just parted and her knuckles turned white from gripping the benchtop.

She was totally speechless, she felt like the walls of the kitchen were caving in on her, crushing the breath from her lungs.

"Get. Out." She managed to squeeze out, her chest heaving with emotion, her eyes blurring with tears.

"Mother, what? Are you okay, I'm sorry-"

"Get out!" She screamed, tears threatening from her eyes as she tried to breathe through the pain overwhelming her. This was the angriest Sam and hever seen her. He contemplated trying to comfort her but he knew she would resent him seeing her any more emotional than she already was.

He muttered another apology and brusquely left the kitchen, hearing the lock click behind him.

Once he was gone Astoria took a deep breath finally released the sob she had been holding in, perhaps for decades.


	17. Kitchen Therapy

When Draco entered the kitchen he found it in its usual messy whirlwind except that none of the groceries Astoria had purchased that day had actually been cooked.

When Sam had flooed his office, Draco had immediately left his business to come home and clean up Sam's mess. He owned a small broom company operating out of Diagon Alley, following his love of quidditch into business instead of sitting around and currying favour with the Magical Elite like his aristocratic forefathers.

Astoria sitting at the kitchen benchtop her head in her hands, more upset than he'd seen her in a very long time. Since before Sam was born, at least.

He sat next to her and put his arm on her shoulder, "Astoria, Sam told me what happened… what he said. I gave him a right scolding, don't you worry."

Astoria looked up, her face stained with tears and sobbed softly.

.

"I just hadn't thought of him in so long Draco, I feel so guilty... How could I not have thought of him? How does Sam know about him? And how could he have thought I would marry you over pureblood puritanism! Doesn't he know what we went through? The horror and the evil, it still makes me sick."

She gently leaned her head onto Draco's shoulder and wrapped her arms around his waist. He leaned in and hugged her, kissing her forehead gently.

"He's ignorant Astoria and we have done that to him, but he's smarter than we give him credit for. He must have heard about Yatin at some point and put, what he thought was two and two together. In fact I'm surprised he hasn't brought it up before."

"I just can't believe he would accuse us getting married to satisfy our pureblood families, it's beyond ridiculous Draco, how could he. We've always made it a point not to indoctrinate him with that garbage."

Draco ran his fingers through Astoria's hair, a habit he'd had since they began dating, he loved the feel of it and it comforted Astoria.

.

"He must have only heard that you didn't marry Yatin, not why."

"I was 15, I couldn't marry anyone."

"I know," he paused, "But you would have. I don't mind saying it dear. I know you loved him first and most, I know how much it hurt you to lose him."

"He was the reason everything changed. I didn't fully understand it until the moment I heard his name on Potterwatch…"

"Of course. And how could I forget that you flatly refused me because I was a pureblood?" Draco chuckled.

"I didn't know you were like me... truly changed by the war."

"I'm glad I convinced you."

They shared a smile, but Astoria's quickly faded.

"I was so upset, Sam's not going to understand and it all came to a head because of that Rose Weasley. Have you heard about the arrangement they've come up with?"

"I can't say I have and I can't say I want to, if this is the result."

"Draco, they're in an _open relationship_ \- can you imagine?"

"Well Rose Weasley aside, you have to tell him the truth. Once and for all. Otherwise this will only end poorly."

Astoria sighed and turned her face into Draco's chest

After Sam informed his father that Astoria had locked him out of the kitchen and might need him, he flooed over to Al's house to try and figure out just exactly what had happened.

As he landed in the grate of Al's Bristol flat, he heard a yell and saw Al running back towards his room.

"Bloody give me some notice next time you drop by unannounced Sam, I'm in my bloomin' knickers!"

Sam snorted with laughter, "Well it wouldn't be unannounced if I told you would it," he called out after Al.

"Exactly!" He heard Al's muffled reply through the door of his bedroom.

.

Al finally walked back into the living room, fully clothed thankfully, and planted himself back on the couch.

"So what's going on that's so urgent you had to floo yourself directly into my house without telling me? If it's about Rose I cannot handle any more drama."

Sam grinned, "No, this time it's about my mother."

"Ughhhh" Al groaned as loudly as he could, "Well come into the kitchen then and I'll make us some tea."

As they traipsed down the hallway to Al's kitchen, Sam wondered if maybe Rose wasn't the person for this conversation. She was definitely much better at researching things… and he needed to do some digging.

"Actually Al, do you mind if I use your floo to see if Rose is around?"

"Well you didn't ask to literally arrive in it, so why would you need permission to use it to pop your head into Rose's?"

"You're right." Sam immediately turned back and ignored Al's dripping sarcasm as he called curse words down the hallway.

.

Popping his head into the grate and throwing down some floo powder, Sam said loudly "45 Butt Close, Puddletown". He tried not to snort in any floo powder from laughter (it doesn't end well) but it was incredibly hard not to, when saying Rose's address.

Butt Close? _What kind of street name is Butt Close!_

When his head arrived in Rose's living room he called out quickly, "Is anybody in at 45 Butt Close? Butt Close, Butt Close, anybody home?"

The sound of something falling heavily to the ground and a door opening quickly followed.

"I'm in, and Sam will you shut up?"

"Only if you come over to Al's for some tea? I just had a bit of a fight with my Mum and could use your perspective."

Sam could hear her footsteps get closer and closer to the living room, "Was it about us? Oh Merlin don't answer that, we'll talk about it when I get over there. I've got some time, I'm not working till later. Now get your head out of my fireplace!"

.

Sam pulled his head back, reeling from the trip and got up from his hands and knees to wait for Rose's arrival. When the green flames licked through the fireplace and Rose stepped out, she came straight over to him and hugged him.

"I'm sorry you had a fight with your Mum, what happened?"

Al's voice interrupted any reply Sam might have had, "Guys, the tea's brewed and I'm ready to give you all the worldly advice you might need!" Al hollered from the kitchen.

.

When they were all finally settled around their respective cups of tea, Sam enlightened them about the fight he and his mother had had. Sam avoided going into detail about exactly what she had said about Rose, he knew it would hurt her.

In any case, what he was most confused about was when he had mentioned her romantic connection with a muggle-born wizard.

Al voiced his memories of it floating around Hogwarts, "Yeah I vaguely remember hearing about this back at school, but it was more the rumour mill than actual fact. People probably just wanted to get a rise out of you. Why would you bring that up?"

"Because she was being a hypocrite," Sam tried to justify, "She was telling me that I was running from the truth and that I had to face what would end up hurting me, but if she broke up with a muggle-born to marry my Dad, she did the exact same thing. She didn't want to disappoint her parents so she did what they wanted."

"Except obviously that's not what happened," Rose chimed in.

Sam averted his eyes awkwardly in embarrassment, "I'll admit, I don't know the full story, because she got really upset and I feel awful about it. My father being a pure-blood wuld have been a perk for both their parents but there must be something more to her high school relationship other than what we heard."

.

"I don't even remember hearing this story - what did you hear?" Rose asked.

Sam shrugged his shoulders, "Just some garbage about how she dumped a muggle-born for my father to keep up 'pureblood' traditions. It was just some offhand comment someone made at school, probably as part of James' gaggle. I just ignored it at the time, people said way worse things to me back then anyway."

"Well I could look into it for you," Rose began, then she paused, "But to be honest I kind of think the best thing to do would be to apologise and talk to your Mum. It was a long time ago and something like who your Mum dated in high school is definitely not going to be in the history books-"

"I know, I know, not everybody's parents were part of one of the biggest love stories of the war," Sam retorted, trying to make light of the situation, but truly just trying to make himself feel better… it wasn't working.

.

"Sam, we don't even know this guys name," Al shrugged, "there's not much to do except ask her what really happened."

Sam sighed, "All of that is a distraction from what we were actually fighting about anyway, which is that she doesn't think Rose and I are going to work out. Some of the things she said were really fucking hurtful."

Rose looked down into her tea cup, wondering if its dregs and leaves would reveal anything as to how they should go about all this - but alas like her mother, she had miserably failed and hated Divination.

"This is all my fault, I put you in this position. The only reason she knows about any of this is because she caught me and Aaliyah kissing-"

"Rose don't," Sam reached his hand over to grab hers. "It's not your fault. She just doesn't understand... And it's none of her business what I do with my romantic life, so she'll just have to deal with it."

"Besides, Sam was bound to disappoint his family eventually, better sooner rather than later," Al grinned mischievously.

Pointing his finger aggressively Sam tried not to smile, "You have and will always be a snot-rag."

They all laughed and slipped into more casual conversation; what they were each getting up that weekend or how things were going at work. Nothing was much resolved, but they were there for each other, and that was what mattered in that moment.


	18. The Truth Comes Out

When Sam got home to Malfoy Manor, it was around the time the family was usually sitting down for dinner, not in the dining hall which was only for dinner parties, but the more normal-sized dining room next to the kitchen.

Beautiful lamps dotted all of the walls, casting a warm fiery glow on the dark mahogany table where some one-pot-pasta was sitting, still in the pot it was cooked in.

"You're home," Draco greeted Sam rather grimly as he walked into the room and sat down at the table.

"I see you've cooked dinner tonight father, how… charming." They both laughed looking at the state of their dinner table, which was usually lavishly covered in a range of strange and interesting dishes whipped up by Astoria.

"Well if you ever saw your mother try to clean the kitchen after cooking dinner, you would probably call that rather less charming. We've had a well-balanced system for many years and it was you, Sam, that disrupted that tonight."

Sam sat down at the table, unable to meet Draco's eyes. "I know, I'm very sorry for what I said, I had no idea what I was talking about."

.

Draco nodded, accepting the apology, "And that is not entirely your fault - your mother never thought you would hear about Yatin and so never thought it necessary to explain what happened."

"His name was Yatin?"

"Yatin Bhagat." Astoria's voice called out clearly as she entered the room, "His name was Yatin Bhagat."

A silence filled the room as Sam waited for an indication of what to do next, were they going to explain things or were they going to move on and never speak of it again (which was rather a household habit at Malfoy Manor).

Astoria sat down slowly across from Sam and started spooning the slightly goopy pasta into a bowl, "Well, aren't you going to eat?"

Both Sam and Draco also filled their bowls and once they had looked around awkwardly for long enough, Astoria started to tell her story.

.

* * *

.

"Yatin you won't be allowed back to Hogwarts next month. He Who Must Not Be Named has completely taken over and this Muggle-Born Registration Commission are going to find you and, and they could kill you."

Astoria and Yatin were arguing in a thicket of trees behind her family home. She knew the longer they spent out here arguing, the more likely they might be caught - she shivered to think of what would happen to Yatin then.

"Well what am I supposed to do Astoria, hideout with my parents where Death Eaters could track me and kill my entire family at any moment?"

Astoria through her arms around him and buried her face into his neck as she sobbed. They stayed like that for a while, just holding each other in fear. Where they were now seemed so far away from all the shy and tender moments of young love that had blossomed between them in fifth year.

.

"You have to go on the run. Find some friends and stay out of the cities. There has to be other Muggle Borns trying to evade the Commission, if you stick together you'll survive and protect each other. Don't ever say You Know Who's real name - there's a Taboo curse on it and they'll find you straight away. And please, just stay safe."

Astoria then thrust a backpack at Yatin, it was full of all the supplies she could sneak out of her home without arousing suspicion.

Her Slytherin classmate had been with her through all her years of schooling.

It was awful to think of going back to Hogwarts with its new 'professors' the Carrows and Snape has headmaster, without him.

Yatin put on the backpack and they both gazed into each other's eyes for a heartbreaking moment, wondering if this was the last time they would ever see each other.

Astoria leaned in and caressed his face, before kissing him with everything she had in her - she needed him to know that he was loved, that something was waiting for him at the end of this war, that he had to come back to her.

Yatin kissed her back passionately, his hands entwining in her long black hair, pulling her closer, closer, closer.

.

When they finally broke apart, they were both crying.

"When this war is over, I am going to find you and we are going to be together again."

"I know. I love you," he whispered gently.

"I love you too, so much."

They shared another chaste kiss in the dark before Yatin stepped back and apparated away with a loud CRACK.

.

It was months before Astoria heard any news of Yatin, they'd cut off all contact to protect his safety.

When she heard his name over the radio on Potterwatch one evening, the breath caught in her throat as she listened alone in an alcove near the Slytherin Common Room.

She almost vomited from the wave of illness that crashed through her body when she realised what it meant, what had happened to him.

Astoria felt sick for days, walking the halls like the living dead, unable to eat or sleep.

No one knew what had happened to poor Astoria Greengrass to make her almost incomprehensible - but she kept going to class to keep up appearances in case any one suspected she might be harbouring rebel sympathies.

Eventually, she made it out of Hogwarts when the final battle began, devastated and sickened by the violence, and when the war was over, she purged all pureblood supremacy from her life.

She wouldn't hear a bar of it form her parents, she threw out every heirloom connected to it and even burned up a painting of her Great Aunt Andrea, known for screeching about muggle borns through the halls of her home every now and then.

She was never the same.

.

* * *

.

"Yatin was killed by Snatchers while on the run in the North Wessex Downs. After the war ended, we managed to find his body… to bury it."

Astoria swallowed more tears as she tried to cease the stream that had been flowing down her cheeks as she relayed what had happened to Yatin.

"I just… I always felt like it was my fault. They locked so many muggle borns in Azkaban who were released afterwards. Some received the Dementor's kiss but others… they survived! I was the one who told Yatin to go on the run and _that's_ how he died-"

Draco interrupted her as though he had done so, to say the same things many times before.

"Astoria you were both children. You were 15 years old, you had no idea what the Commission was planning to do to people - for all you knew they were murdering every single person who turned themselves in. You know it's not healthy for you to blame yourself."

.

Astoria turned her face away to dab at her eyes with a lace-trimmed white handkerchief. She had brought it in advance, knowing she would need it.

"I have to live with my regrets and you have to live with yours Draco. That is a part of our lives since the war Sam, we are tormented every day with the decisions we made, because we were not on the right side…"

The ensuing silence made Sam feel rather entirely out of place. He didn't know how to deal with the trauma his mother had just shared it him, and the complicity they felt in the war.

He simply thanked Merlin that his problems were significantly smaller than the barbarity of the Second Wizarding War.

.

"Mother I'm sorry for mentioning Yatin. I had no right and I was completely ignorant of the real reason you could never have been with him - he was taken from you by Voldemort and by pure-blood supremacy, and I am truly sorry"

A ghost of a smile graced Astoria's lips, "Thank you Sam. I married your father only after he had proved to me that the war had turned him away from pureblood supremacy, just as it had me, and we raised you without all that nonsense clouding your head."

After a slight eyebrow raise from Draco that only Astoria noticed, the prompt reminded her to begrudgingly add, "And I am sorry for being too critical of you and Rose - the times are changing and while I may never fully understand your decision, you are an adult and you can make your own choices about your love life. Far be it for me to try and involve myself in the world of a young 24-year-old wizard."

And with that they dug into the exceedingly average pasta Draco had made for dinner, Astoria being wiser than Sam to criticise it. She knew it might encourage him to suggest she clean the kitchen - and that was simply not happening tonight.


	19. Ready

It had been a week since Sam's fight with his mother had resolved reasonably peacefully and Christmas was right around the corner.

He and Rose were out for dinner at The Blue Vinny, Puddletown's only restaurant.

Rose preferred the quietness of her small town over the hustling and bustling busy-body vibe of somewhere like the Leaky Cauldron or anywhere in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade.

As they shared a pizza, Sam related how things were going at his new job.

.

"Working at the care centre is hard, I mean, they're mostly running around all over the country and continent studying new creatures, and only bringing back injured creatures or new species they wanted to catalogue. So I'm doing most of the day-to-day managing of the centre."

"That sounds like a lot of responsibility, how are you finding it compared to your old job?"

"I miss all the running around, chasing and capturing things, but I'm also getting a lot more in-depth knowledge about the creatures I'm caring for. I have to know their feeding or hunting needs, their medical needs, catalogue what we know about them - which is actually for Luna and Rolf's new book. They said I would get a writing credit."

Rose's face lit up in delight, "Sam that's amazing! Wow, what fantastic opportunity!"

Sam laughed at her reaction, "Yeah it's pretty crazy. It's different from was doing in India, but I feel like it's a step in a new direction and what I really needed."

.

As they finished up dinner, Sam delighted in paying the bartender in muggle money while Rose tried not to roll her eyes - choosing to live in a small muggle-town had meant as a matter of course she had sorted out with the Ministry a method of exchanging a few galleons for pounds.

She was rather used to it but indulged Sam's excitement.

As they began to walk down the main street of Puddletown back to Rose's house in the cold evening air, Sam reached into the pocket of Rose's coat to hold her hand.

"I know my hand is probably freezing, but this still feels like a novelty."

Along the walk it started to snow, softly and gently, the icy flakes drifted down landing on their eyelashes, hair and clothes.

.

When they got to Rose's street Sam restrained himself and didn't even make a Butt Close joke (impressive!).

Rose walked up to the door, waved her wand with a whispered _alohomora_ and opened the door, she gestured for him to come inside.

"Come in, get out of the snow."

Sam hesitated for the briefest moment, his heart jump starting a little before stamping the snow of his shoes and following her into her warm and cosy house.

It wasn't that he didn't want to come but, but rather that Sam and Rose had been taking things quite slowly.

He didn't want to rush her into anything.

Besides, his throat was feeling dry while his palms were getting sweaty and butterflies rampantly flipped around in his stomach.

.

Taking off his coat as Rose brought to life a roaring fire in the grate, Sam cleared his throat awkwardly, "I don't have to stay you know, I can floo home if you're tired."

"I'm not tired and I have a late start tomorrow at Mungos… unless you want to be getting home."

"No, no, not at all," Sam backtracked quickly.

"I'm just a little nervous because, well, it's late and we're taking things slow and I only want to stay if you want me to..."

Rose smiled at Sam, basking in the heat of the fire and in how cute she found his nervousness.

She looked at him directly and took his hand, "Sam, I want you to stay."

They held the silence for a moment, intensely, until Sam squeezed her hand warmly, "Great,' he whispered softly.

.

Rose pulled him back and plonked them both down on her ugly purple couch, although its charm was growing on Sam.

She then leaned her head onto his shoulder, cuddling into his knitted woollen jumper and tracing the S on the front - a classic Nana Weasley production.

"I'm really glad you managed to sort things out with your Mum, by the way, thanks for writing me - I was worried."

Sam nodded gently, "Yeah, it was a really sad story and I just thought you and Al would want to know. Besides, you were so concerned about her opinion of us, I wanted you to know she apologised and agreed my love life wasn't much of her business."

They laughed softly and Rose turned her face up just close enough to give Sam a light peck on the lips.

.

"Do you remember when we used to talk constantly through those diaries we had? Those Protean Charm ones?"

"How could I possibly forget. I really regret burning them," Sam leaned his head on the top of Rose's soft red curls, his nerves fading away some.

"I don't, we must have send some really dumb stuff back then - our worlds were so bloody small."

"Well learning about what happened with Yatin, I kind of feel like our world is still small. We've never had to worry about evil forces taking over the world, killing our friends, fighting for our lives."

Rose grinned and looked up at Sam, "And that's how I bloody-well like my life! Quiet and simple."

"Yeah I got that from the whole 'I live in a place called Butt Close, Puddletown' Rose," Sam snickered.

"Fuck you Malfoy, this is a lovely town with no mean witches or wizards looking to snap my picture for Witch Weekly-"

"Oh so I don't understand the need to live at Butt Close because I'm not as famous as you? Believe you me, if I ever wrote about what happened with us or did some exclusive interview - we'd have books written about us in a heartbeat. I could be an international heart throb."

" _International heart throb!?_ "

.

Rose's faux outrage was adorable and Sam couldn't help reaching out a hand to give her fringe a soft tug.

She reached her hand out to pinch his nose, but instead grabbed his chin and brought his face to hers, gently placing another kiss on his lips.

This time, lingering and deep.

Sam responded, wrapping his arms around her body and pulling her close, allowing the warmth from the fire to let him sink deeply into her, his eyes closed yet yearning to see her.

Rose's cold fingers ran along Sam's jawline, tracing softly along the exposed skin of his neck and collarbone.

He shivered, moaning softly.

She pulled off her jumper, hot from the heat of the fire and the heat of the moment, and pushed him horizontally onto the couch, straddling his waist then leaning down to pepper his neck with soft, sucking kisses.

.

As her hands roamed along his chest and her other cupped his cheek, Rose's hands found the rough scar alone the corner of Sam's eyebrow.

The one that had brought her back to consciousness all those years ago in the halls of Hogwarts after the Polyjuice Party.

She wasn't afraid of it anymore.

She was completely in control of what she wanted.

Diving her tongue deep into Sam's mouth, Rose let go of all her senses, lost in the experience.

They had waited so long for each other, without ever knowing they would be here. It was an almost uncontrollable hunger and soon, more and more pieces of clothing found themselves flung to the floor of Rose's living room.

.

"Rose, I love you, I love you so much."

"I love you too," Rose whispered back as the flames from the fireplace licked shadows across her body and Sam's curious fingers traced the patterns, chasing but never quite keeping up with the pace of the flickering.

"Are you sure? We don't have to-"

"Yes." She interrupted him, "I've never been more sure of anything."

She kissed him again, sucking his bottom lip as his arm searched the couch for his wand.

He pulled away from her kisses briefly to mutter a contraception charm and as soon as his wand tip glowed and died, Rose grabbed it and threw it aside.

She couldn't wait one moment longer.


	20. Snow Forts

A few days before Christmas, Sam gathered up the gang and invited them to Malfoy Manor to take over the grounds and build the biggest snow forts he had seen in 7 years.

Living in India, suffice to say snow forts were not really on the agenda around Christmas-time. Sam had always missed snowball fights and rough-housing in the snow and now that he was back he was ready for the final showdown.

In a (unsurprising) flash of pride, the ex-Gryffindor girls decided to form their own team and prove their fort-building and snowball fighting prowess.

Bee, Annie, Jen and Rose had recruited Alice Longbottom to even out the teams, seeing as she was no stranger to athletic competition - Alice was currently playing for the reserve team on the Wimbourne Wasps and had successfully beat out the Appleby Arrows Seeker in her latest game when she'd been called into the game after the Wimbourne Wasps' regular Seeker had been knocked out cold by a bludger.

.

Everyone arrived at Malfoy Manor raring to go, with offers of tea and pleasantries rejected.

Astoria was rather confused as to why everyone was indulging Sam's snowball fight fantasy, little did she know as they'd gotten older everyone had greatly missed epic snowball fights along with their Christmas celebrations.

Besides, they were still young and sprightly, they may as well do it while they still could!

After flipping a Knut and winning, Al, Sam, Corey, Greg and Adam had a short discussion as to which side of the back garden they would claim as their territory. They opted for the far side and immediately set about conjuring and sculpting their fort at the far end.

.

"This fort is going to be _epic_ ," Corey crowed, eyes bright with glee.

He and Adam were making quick wandwork of the structure, forming battlements and trenches, his breath puffing fog into the air around them as he shivered from both anticipation and the cold.

Al was busy building a trophy out of ice and snow, to sit in the centre of the fort - the first team to capture the other's trophy won of course.

Meanwhile, outside Greg and Sam were spinning their wands into a frenzy stocking up on snowballs.

.

While they worked, as this was one of the more tedious tasks of any snowball fight, Sam asked how he and Bee's co-operative potion and apothecary shop was going.

.

"It's going really well actually," Greg smiled proudly, "We're supplying enough to a few hospital departments plus regular customers - and we keep it fresh by continuing to devise new potions and trying to improve the industry. It's a lot for just the two of us but we make a great team, always have."

Sam nodded, impressed, "That's awesome mate, although I know Rose said Bee is going through an extra rough patch with her muggle family at the moment. At least it's not impacting her work."

Sighing loudly and swapping arms as his right hand got tired from spinning, Greg shrugged his shoulders. "I've tried to get her to let me help, but she's just completely shut me down. Her parents want her to get married, but she obviously doesn't want to marry a muggle they've picked out for her, so it's just constant fighting. Bee won't put her foot down to her parents about exactly who she'll marry - for reasons that I obviously don't understand either."

"Yeah what a mess. I don't think Rose has even thought of a solution."

.

Greg got a familiar look in his eye, an idea that had been there for a while but never managed to catch on.

"Well that's the thing, I have! I offered to find someone for her. I know her inside and out, I'm sure I could find someone that would fit in with the magical community, they just need to be a wizard and be willing to move to Britain - I know I could do it."

Sam laughed raucously, not even trying to hold back. "I bet Bee was _ecstatic_ about that idea. Greg, I think you've just got to let her battle this one on her own-"

"But her family life impacts my business, sure Bee's working well now but I know the more stressed she gets the sooner she's going to need an unplanned leave of absence to have a full-on breakdown. Besides, she's one of my best friends and I'm bloody worried about her."

After Sam's Welcome Home party word had quickly spread about who Aaliyah was and what their situation was (Adam and the girls had not kept their mouths shut), so Sam felt comfortable talking about what had happened with his mother just a few days ago.

"Look, I just had a huge fight with my mother about Rose… and Aaliyah, and I can understand why Bee is struggling to articulate what she wants from her love life _to her parents_. It's just not how things were meant to be."

They both laughed awkwardly.

"Having an unconventional relationship that your parents don't approve of is hard, I can understand Bee wanting to put off that fight, especially because her parents are muggles and quite religious, and she's neither of those things."

"I know, it's just, I really think that I could fix this entire problem if I found the right guy for her," Greg focused back on the snowballs, knowing that the time to start launching them was nigh.

"Well how are thinking of doing that?"

"Simple. Corey could scope out the Bangladeshi Ministry, maybe Neville has some contacts in the academic sphere, Al from the sports field, we background check all the guys, hold some interviews and find someone who's perfect for her."

"Wow you've really thought this through…" He didn't have time to voice how strange he found it before a hard-packed snowball thwacked the front battlement of their territory.

He yelled back, "Get ready boys, they've started launching!"

.

What ensued was an extremely vigorous and competitive snowball fight to rival even the one they had had at Hogwarts.

Rose and Alice immediately started with offence, hurling snowballs at the front battlements, distracting Sam and Greg from continuing to stockpile snowballs.

Al climbed onto the roof of their fort and started launching long distance snowballs to try and scope out the defence of the other fort across the yard.

Adam climbed up behind him, leaving Corey to defend the trophy. "What do you make of their structure?"

"It's a beauty, they've dug out the garden and made their fort below ground-level. Makes it way easier for us to lob snowballs down into their complex but harder for us to get in, because they'll just knock out our feet from beneath us without having to pop up much."

.

They both grinned in exhilaration, feeling the cold air rushing past their ears as a few snowballs came too close for comfort.

"Well we better get launching then," Adam proposed.

He raised his wand and used a slingshot motion to launch snowballs all the way across the yard and down into the girls' fort, with Al following suit.

.

"So how's it going at International Magical Co-operation? You still enjoying jetting all around the world?" Al queried as he levitated some more snowballs up from the pile Sam and Greg had made below.

Adam shrugged, "Yeah I mean, I get to travel, I get to meet all the important people in ministries across the world, it's fine."

"You used to sound a lot more excited about it," Al offered.

"I guess I didn't realise how boring it was to just schmooze around with all these rich people - it's all about rubbing shoulders with the right people, making the best 'deals', honestly it's probably something Corey would do way better than me. Having him in the office and being able to hang out with him is probably the only thing keeping me sane at the Ministry, for all my complaining about him."

"What did you think International Magical Co-operation was? I gotta admit I don't know much about it myself."

.

"I thought I'd be tackling actually important problems, like environmental protection across borders or muggle migration patterns or international anti-pureblood supremacy policies - you know how bad it still is in parts of Europe. We should be canvassing and taking action, I mean Durmstrang still doesn't accept muggle borns, it's an international disgrace."

Al dodged a snowball and quickly fired one as far as he could, grinning as he saw it land squarely on Alice's chest, he waved at her and chuckled as she gave him the finger from down below.

He sobered again, thinking on what Adam had just said, "Have you considered talking to Hermione? You know we could hook you up - maybe you're not a bureaucrat and paper-pusher, maybe you should join her team of staff or something."

Adam stumbled backwards as a snowball smacked into his head. Groaning he ran a hand through his afro, dusting off the spattering of snow, "Yeah that would actually be pretty sweet-"

.

"Oi you bally snot-rags! Yeah that's right, Albus Potter, Adam Vaisey!"

Rose yelled out their names as though they were insults in an extremely goading fashion, her lungs were burning from all the running around she was doing as offence and she still wasn't anywhere near getting inside their fort, so she changed tactics to some trash-talk to get them out of their protective placement.

"Get down here and fight us already, standing up there's making for a boring game."

Rose gestured to her levitating stack of snowballs, poised for launching, "Or are you scared?"

She and Alice had made it only halfway down the yard, before being successfully beaten back from above and ground level.

"You might be defending well but if you just keep sitting up there, you'll never get into our fort!" Rose dodged more snowballs from Sam and Greg's defence behind the first battlement of their fort and then gave as good as she got.

.

Al and Adam looked at each other gleeful.

"You ready to do this?"

"Hell yes!"

They both jumped down and entered the thick of the game, one that would be contentiously debated for many years to come.

Some would complain about the amount of snowballs to the face, others would claim adding a melting charm to the snowballs to disintegrate the structural integrity of the forts (Jen's idea, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes had got her creative juices flowing) was a clear violation of the rules, but in the end it was Bee who claimed the boy's icy trophy from within their fort after blasting Corey through the wall, and 'won' the game.

As she ran out of the icy snow dome trophy lifted above her head in victory and breathless with laughter, Greg watched affectionately from behind his battlement.

He smiled, almost wistfully, at her joy, wishing he could bottle it for her - breathless laughter and triumphant victory and the happiness of being surrounded by friends - it would be the most perfect potion he could ever brew.


	21. The Malfoy Manor Christmas Eve Ball

Twas the night before Christmas and the Malfoys were ready for an extremely gallant Christmas Eve Ball.

Malfoy Manor was bedecked with tasteful decorations, holly and mistletoe, and the servers were busy setting up and preparing to carry around champagne and appetizers to the guests.

Everyone who was anyone in the British Magical Community was invited, however the older generation of Weasleys and Potters never quite managed to make it - Hermione flatly refused to go back to the Manor, no matter how different it and its grounds looked, and Harry and Ron were never too interested in mingling with the elite party guests hosted by the Malfoys.

Even Sam was grateful he had managed to avoid attending for so many years while away in India.

As Corey rather hilariously put it, "It's an utter wank-fest, _I love it_."

Corey had never missed a Malfoy Manor Christmas Eve Ball since he and Sam became friends, he thought it was the best entertainment he got all year.

.

This year, Sam had invited all of his friends but only a few had taken up his offer; Corey (of course), Al (out of pity), Rose (in an attempt to get in Astoria's good books), Lily (because she was at the peak of a crush on a co-worker from the Search and Rescue), Alice (to accompany Lily) and Jen and Fred (so they could make fun of everyone else attending).

As he helped set a few tables up, Sam's breath caught in his throat as Rose entered the ballroom in stunning wine-coloured dress robes, layered with lace.

The sleeves were wide, in usual witchy style, and her lipstick was matched perfectly to the colour of her robes.

As Rose made her way over to him, Sam tried and failed to say something coherent.

"I know, I look amazing," Rose smirked, revelling in her ability to render Sam speechless. "Victoire had these made for me all the way from Paris for my birthday, because apparently my old blue velvet ones 'didn't fit me anymore'."

She rolled her eyes disbelievingly, she found the complaints about the state of her wardrobe incredibly droll.

.

Gaining access to words again, Sam grabbed Rose's hand lightly, "I haven't seen you dressed up in a really long time. Not since…"

He let his voice trail off, leaving the rest of the sentence unspoken.

' _Not since the Victory Day Ball, 7 years ago.'_

He took a deep breath in to calm himself, trying not to ruin the moment with bad memories, "You look wonderful."

She leaned up and placed a kiss gently on his lips, then she grinned voraciously, "You don't look so bad yourself Malfoy."

She rubbed her hands along the front of his plain black dress robes and the thick material of his white collared shirt, tweaking his bow tie cheekily.

.

They were snapped out of their reverie when Astoria's voice called out across the ballroom, "Sam have you finished setting up those tables, the servers want to lay out the champagne fountain."

Astoria had just entered the room from the kitchen wearing elegant black dress robes with swirling velvet patterns that moved across her body. Enchanted, obviously.

"Yes mother, it's all ready for them."

Astoria took a pause to look at Rose fully for a moment, "Rose dear, welcome. So glad you could come." Her words were reasonably polite but her tone was icy and verging on sarcastic.

Stumbling over her words, which was very unlike Rose, she managed to get out "Yes, umm, thank you, uhh."

Astoria swept away before she could say much else.

.

"Ugh! _Merlin_ she makes me nervous."

Sam rubbed Rose's shoulders in an attempt to soothe her, "I'm sorry she's not the warmest person, but she is trying."

"Yeah, I think Aaliyah made the right choice in sitting this one out. I can only imagine how that would have gone down."

Sam grimaced, "Yeah. Thanks for coming early by the way, I didn't just want to stand around alone doing nothing as my parents' fancy guests arrive."

They laughed as they settled into a corner of the ballroom to wait for the festivities to begin, and the arrival of their friends.

.

.

"Rose Weasley you scrub up good!"

Jen practically crowed from across the hall. She then ran over to Rose and Sam's little corner and threw her arms around Rose vigorously.

"I am so glad I came tonight, just for the privilege of showering you in compliments!"

Rose grinned, "It's insane right? I won't ever have to buy dress robes again, Victoire has me set for life."

Jen had shown up in creamy peach dress robes with an off the shoulder cut, with ruffles that flowed over her tanned skin, her long dark hair falling over her exposed shoulders in beautiful waves.

She'd even gone to the effort of outlining her dark brown almond-shaped eyes with eyeliner that tapered off in perfect wings.

.

"Also, uhhh, speaking of looking good, you look fantastic! Fred won't be able to take his eyes off y-"

"Fred nothing, this isn't for Fred. I did it to avoid Astoria's wrath! Merlin she's graceful. I look like a baby giraffe learning to walk next to her. And Fred is just a friend." She brushed Rose off quickly and casually. A little too quickly and casually...

Rose tried to interject but Jen shushed her, "Bup-bup-bup shhh. We are friends. It's hard to believe, even for me, but we have to work together every day so I used my charm. He's even forgiven me for that time I beat him with a tome and made antlers grow out of his fro and tentacles from his limbs - although to be fair, the forgiveness only occurred after the 3rd time he'd pranked me at work in front of the entire office. But still."

Sam snorted, "I am definitely going to ask him what those pranks were."

At which point he also quickly dodged a snappy Aguamenti charm from Jen.

"Okay, okay we get it, you're just friends and I'm not to ask about the pranks," Sam chuckled out.

.

"What pranks?" Corey had sauntered up behind them in impeccably fitting dress robes of classic black and white.

He also quickly dodged a jet of water from Jen and piped down very quickly, although he knew exactly which pranks anyway.

Word had travelled fast from the WWW offices and Corey was all smirks and knowing winks at what he was sure was Fred's attempt at flirting.

"Are you all ready for the small-talk you're likely to be affronted with this evening? What work are you doing; how are you parents; do you have any opinion on the progress of Hermione Granger's Review of Magical Policy; is James Potter really dating a muggle; what do you think of the food; yadda yadda yadda!"

Corey was a veteran at Ministry gatherings and knew all about the conversations that went with them, but Sam hadn't had to put up with this stuff for quite some time.

.

Sam chuckled, "Merlin, I forgot what it was like hanging around the Weasleys and Potters in the public spotlight. Can't say I miss it."

"Oh please," Jen shot back, "You bloody love it and you always have. Don't you remember how you were the talk of the town when you and Al did that little stunt on your first night at Hogwarts? A Slytherin sitting at the Gryffindor table!"

"That doesn't mean I want my love-life all over the tabloids, Rose we should have talked about this earlier, are we public or whatever?"

"This is why I live in Puddletown, _and yet,_ you made fun of me-"

Corey snickered at Sam's panic-stricken face but still intervened to help his friend out, "Just answer the question Rosie, or Sam's going to have a heart-attack."

.

Rose sighed dramatically, "Of course we're public Sam, why wouldn't we be? And if any reporters get a whiff of it and decide to run a story we will hole up in Puddletown and ignore everything. Who even reads the Daily Prophet anymore? That's so 1997."

Rose was right, after the war a plurality of Witching media was distributed to counteract the monopoly the ministry had over the press - and most of the newspapers were not invested in the Weasleys and their love lives anymore.

As the group milled around stealing appetizers and butter beer from the servers, Fred Weasley walked in with Lily, Al(ice) and Al(bus). Fred was dressed in blue dress robes that swept grandly to the ground, his hair braided back from it's usual afro, Lucy was sporting thin, shimmering dress robes in green and aqua (probably more suited to summer, she was already shivering), Alice was draped in deep purple robes with a high collar, tight sleeves and a wide flowing skirt, and Al, the most scruffy of anyone in the hall, had thrown on some velvet black robes that obviously hadn't been ironed.

.

Whatever Jen said, Fred could not take his eyes off her and he walked slyly over to her, trying to be casual, yet clearly with intention.

"Hey Jen, ready to poke fun at literally everyone in attendance?"

"Well seeing as that's the only reason I came, I'm quite prepared. Oh oh, do you want to play that game where you pick a group of people and voice-over what you think they're talking about?"

"Definitely, I was also thinking of contributing to a few wardrobe malfunctions, nothing too risqué but enough to get a few laughs."

"You read my mind."

.

They continued their plotting, much to the snickering delight of the rest of the group making secret eyes at each other. When Jen and Fred wandered off as more guests filled the hall with buzzing conversation, Corey started taking galleons on the bets as to how soon they would officially get together.

"I'm down for 5 galleons, on one month," Lily pledged.

"Lil, stop betting on your cousin's love life!" Alice giggled.

Al scoffed, "But this is the Potter way! Lil, they're way too thick to get there that quick, I'll put down 6 galleons, on three months."

Having taken ten years themselves, Rose and Sam were not inclined to partake in the betting - Rose could practically hear the guffaws and 'bit rich coming from you two innit's, so they ignored the rest of them.

Rose was secretly planning a subtle revenge-attack she'd been wanting to execute for months.

When the bets had all been placed, Rose planted the first seed.

.

"Folks, it's a little boring at the ball thus far, does anyone want to play a game of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Truth or Dare?" Rose summoned the game and alluringly gestured to the small box.

"Sure, why not," Al agreed. He'd never really enjoyed the ball and anything WWW was bound to spice things up.

Soon enough, Lily, Corey, Alice, Albus, Sam and Rose had retreated to a quiet table in the back corner, sitting around sipping champagne and nibbling appetizers that Sam had stolen directly from the kitchen.

More and more people were filtering in through the floor-to-ceiling doors, so the group went relatively unnoticed. A band of playerless instruments had started to float gentle jazz through the air of the hall.

Innocently, Rose lifted the enchanted deck of cards and as each person grabbed one, it glowed with a white blue light for a brief moment - binding each player to the consequences of refusing their challenge.

.

"Left of the dealer goes first, Alice, you're up."

Alice's lips squirmed nervously, "Truth, I guess."

Lily giggled, "Oh truths are always so easy. Do you fancy anyone in this circle?"

"No." Alice immediately responded, but she blushed excessively as her card turned red, indicating that she had failed the challenge.

"Liar!" Lily squealed in delight, "Who is it?!"

Alice simply flipped over the card and groaned as her body was overtaken by the enchantment. She proceeded to hop around the table doing the Chicken Dance on one foot for one circumference, until she finally heaved back down into her chair.

"Well that was humiliating-"

Lily cut her off, "Oh we are having a long talk after this Alice Longbottom!"

.

Rose smiled, almost knowingly, "Your turn Lily. What will it be? Truth or dare?"

Lily shrugged, "Dare, of course. It's always more fun."

"Oh Lily, you make this almost too easy. I dare you to ask your crush from Search and Rescue to a dance - and according to the card I just gave you, if you refuse to do it, you're going to strip naked and run around the entire hall. Screaming."

Lily gasped in horror, feeling as though her stomach had dropped through her body all the way into the ground.

This dare was too familiar, where was it from?

"Wait, you figured out it was me - who told you?" Lily managed to say, mouth still agape in shock.

It has finally clicked, this was the exact same dare from the Victory Night Ball, during Rose and Sam's 7th year at Hogwarts.

.

"Sam let it slip in quarantine that you were the one who dared him to dance with me, and for your information that ended in a very traumatic memory charm and 7 years of estrangement between us."

Sam nudged Rose. "Obviously that wasn't your fault, Lily," Sam offered, apologetically.

"Yes yes, we were both dolts - But I have been waiting months to act on this information and you my dear, have been served!" Rose giggled with glee as she saw Lily's eyes darting back and forth between Rose and Jem Cattermole, who was innocently sipping from a glass of champagne, completely unaware of the drama that was about to unfold.

The memory of that night flooded back to Lily as she sputtered, trying to think of how to get herself out of this. She had always enjoyed Truth or Dare far too much for her own good!

.

"Rose, Rose, be reasonable, there's not even any music playing that you can dance to!" The panic was starting to set in and Lily could feel her hands start to shake from nerves as adrenaline rushed through her body.

"Don't you worry your pretty little head about that, I have you covered for music," and with a wave of her wand Rose sent a spell whispering through the hall, that reached the band of instruments playing themselves.

Suddenly, instead of quiet background music, the gentle jazz became more upbeat and while the guests looked around slightly curiously, Lily got up and walked immediately over to Jem.

She could see the WWW Truth or Dare card starting to glow and she could not bear the embarrassment of taking off any clothes in public.

.

"Hi Jem, how are you doing? This music's nice hey, would you like to dance?" She speedily uttered, trying to quell her panic and still her shaking hands.

Jem smiled, "Yeah I'm good, umm sure."

"Great," Lily breathed, thanking Merlin that she didn't have to explain the Truth or Dare situation, like she would have had to if he had said no.

She swiftly popped her arms on his shoulders and they started to sway to the smooth jazz. Jem added in a few twirls, nothing fancy thankfully, and as they looked around a few more people were joining them.

Lily breathed a sigh of relief, forgetting for a moment that Jem didn't know anything about the anxiety of her pounding chest.

.

"Lily, are you quite all right?"

Lily tried to laugh it off, but seeing Jem this close up was only adding to her nervousness - why did he have to be so fit?

"It's nothing, it's just… My friends made me ask you because we're, oh you're going to think this is so silly and immature-"

"What is it?"

"We're playing a game of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Truth or Dare and they dared me to ask you to dance - it's a whole thing because…"

"Because what?"

Lily looked down at their feet, but Jem wasn't having a bar of it. He gave Lily a twirl and pulled her back in close so that their cheeks were touching. She made a small gasp, which she knew he heard and she almost stopped breathing altogether from their proximity.

.

"Lily…" He whispered into her ear, she smiled, stopping herself from giggling.

"I fancy you okay Jem, and everybody knows so you may as well know too-"

She was cut off by the tender kiss he placed on her lips briefly, before spinning her around again.

And nothing more needed to be said, really.

Which didn't stop the back table erupting into cheers and whoops - Lily rolled her eyes but deep down, she was incredibly grateful for their meddling.


	22. Merry Christmas

After a night of eating, drinking, and breathless laughter, Rose had managed to steal upstairs to Sam's room and take up most of his bed the entire night.

When Christmas day dawned, and Rose had considerably overslept, she awoke bleary-eyed and tired, but knowing there was no way she could get out of the Weasley-Potter family Christmas.

As she tried to get out of bed, Sam's arms snaked around her and pulled her back in.

"Sam, I have to get to Nanna Molly's and it's already 10am! If I miss helping to prepare lunch I'll never hear the end of it."

But even as she protested, she snuggled back under the warm covers and gave Sam a showering of kisses all over his face.

.

"Okay fine," Sam un-cuddled her, "Away with you. But I'll see you tomorrow for the leftovers."

Rose scooted off the bed and attempted to put her dress robes back on before giving up, putting on one of Sam's t-shirts and shorts, and sneaking out to the nearest fireplace to floo home.

However just as she reached the end of the hall and the entrance to the living room, she came face to face with Astoria, carrying a cup of coffee back to her room from the kitchen.

Rose's face immediately turned crimson, how on Earth was her timing always this fucking abominable?

"Good morning Astoria, Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas Rose, off to your parents for the day?"

"My Nanna Molly's, I'm just heading home to get changed."

"Ah yes, you have a woolen jumper to don, I believe."

Rose chuckled, "Yes, I do," she laughed again.

"Well have a good day Rose."

.

And with that Astoria went on her way, gracefully carrying her cup of coffee (which probably had an anti-spill spell on it anyway so she could have been skipping down the hallway, but that obviously just wasn't Astoria's style).

'I guess that could have gone worse', Rose thought to herself as she made it to the fireplace and grabbed a fistful of floo powder.

"45 Butt Close, Puddletown."

As the emerald green flames licked around her, Rose managed to hear Draco Malfoy's voice as she spiralled away.

"Butt Close? What a bizarre place to be going."

If she could have slapped her forehead with her palm as she flooed, she would have.

.

.

By the time Rose made it to the Burrow it was almost midday and preparations for an astounding Christmas lunch was well-underway.

Fred immediately tried to make fun of her late arrival but she hushed him swiftly with sly comment on his flirtation skills regarding Jen.

Torn between denying the allegation and defending his flirting skills, Fred was stumped at Rose's proclamation that Jen would never know he was interested unless he stopped pranking her in front of all their colleagues.

"I work at a joke shop Rose, I'm supposed to prank everyone in front of everyone…" Fred replied weakley, but even he knew it was not a strong come-back.

Everyone was sufficiently warned off any more attempts to comment on her tardiness.

.

Rose popped into the living room to quickly wish her parents and endless aunts and uncles Merry Christmas.

Hermione was the only one bothered to get up off her very comfortable seat on the couch and give Rose a hug, "Merry Christmas darling."

Rose leaned down to give her father a kiss, and after exchanging a round of Merry Christmases with everyone, she went back into the kitchen to grab some silverware to set the table.

"Merry Christmas Nanna!"

Nanna Molly was waving her wand over numerous simmering dishes and roasting oven trays while Bee chopped a salad.

"Merry Christmas dear!" Nanna Molly replied distractedly.

Bee chuckled as she finished up with her salad and leaned over to give Rose a quick hug.

Bee's family didn't celebrate Christmas, so as usual Rose had invited her along to the Burrow where she could compliment Nanna Molly's cooking in all the right ways and assist in Grandad Weasley's latest fascination with a muggle gadget.

.

As Rose and Bee both grabbed fistfuls of cutlery and made their way to the dining room, they got to chatting about the ball.

"It was totally ridiculous, as usual, but we kind of made it our own. I finally got Lily back for that ridiculous truth or dare dance she set on me back in 7th year - she had to dance with her colleague but seeing as she's even later than me, I think it ended up going rather well."

Bee laughed, "Well I see you rather enjoy playing matchmaker, but my parents have been driving me mental with it. Every other word out of their mouth is marriage this, marriage that, it's enough to drive a witch to stunning them, honestly."

"So I guess you're glad to be out of there then."

"Absolutely, one more second of them yammering on about arranging a husband…"

"Do you have a lot of suitors then? You're a catch, you must."

.

Bee rolled her eyes, "Oh there are plenty of them until they see a photo - apparently being bigger than a matchstick and having dark skin causes a rather steep drop in suitors, it's disgusting and misogynistic, and I honestly can't bear seeing my parents at the moment."

"They just don't want you to be alone, I mean you've never dated or brought anyone home to them, I'm sure they're just worried-"

"Yeah, because if I brought anyone home because if I did they'd expect a wedding in the next 5 minutes. They're only worried about their reputation of having a Witch in the family who's unmarried over the age of 25, they don't care about what I want at all"

Rose laid a hand on Bee's shoulder and gave it a squeeze, "Well at least you've got your own flat in London right? Living with them would be even worse."

"Yeah… Besides right now I've got a shit tonne of food to eat and Fred to make fun of, that attack on his flirting was just superb."

Chuckling they both took their seats at the magically overly-extended table as the room filled with noise.

.

Crying babies (Victoire and Teddy had two kids now), laughter and the clang of knives and forks against plates buzzed through the dining room at the Burrow as everyone dug into the Christmas day feast.

They had long ago stopped trying to have any talk of Merry Christmases or family thanks before everyone had eaten - it just never ended well.

Al came in from the garden, snow lightly sprinkled across his black hair and knitted woollen jumper like practically everyone else in the whole family (Rose's had arrived under her tree that morning in Puddletown and she'd donned it before coming to the Burrow).

"Well look who decided to show up!" He grinned and gave Rose a side-hug as he sat down next to her to dig into lunch.

.

"You didn't have to dress up and try and repair the absolutely awful impression your boyfriend's parents have of you, so I would appreciate a little bit of a sleep-in after a hard night's work," Rose fired back.

"Look, they don't have to like you, they have to tolerate you - that's what in-laws are all about!"

Rose raised an eyebrow, "Who said anything about in-laws."

Al snorted as he reached out to piled his plate high with turkey, roast potatoes, pastries, pies and bread, "All right, all right, 'eventual in-laws'."

Rose flicked half a cherry-tomato at Al with her fork and it hit him wetly on the check with a little slap.

He took a deep breath, "Rose, I want you to think very carefully about how you could ruin this excellent lunch Nan has spent all morning preparing without your help. Let's keep the food fight under wraps and have a snowball fight later, like civilised people."

Rose snickered but turned her attention to the food. Al was right, food fights were an incredible waste and the snow packed a harder punch.

.

As the Weasley-Potter clan settled into their Christmas feast and the extended table groaned more than a few times from the sheer weight of food and plates of dozens and dozens of family members Rose revelled in the mayhem.

The peace and quiet of her house in Puddletown was all very well and good, but on Christmas it warmed the cockles of her heart to be surrounded by good food, endless family members and a new year, peeking around the corner.


	23. Mungos Mayhem

Some days, St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries was a relatively peaceful site.

Rose would check on all her patients from the first through fourth floors, then start on any people in the waiting room on the ground floor and steadily work her way through the list. Sometimes she even had some downtime to herself, to catch up on the latest research and journals.

Today, was not one of those days.

After Christmas day there had been a sudden influx of emergency patients, from household poisonings to skiing accidents. The Christmas break and holiday season always involved an increase in emergencies but this year was extreme..

Rose was on shift with Aaliyah and a whole slew other Healers, and they were slammed.

Everyone was running around on the ground floor, frantically attempting to treat patients and sort through the melee of people efficiently.

.

Watching Aaliyah work through the crisis, Rose only grew in admiration for her skill but also her kindness, compassion and cool head - Aaliyah was definitely in her element during an emergency.

She thought quickly on her feet, and was great at designing efficient and effective procedures, mostly designed at teaching people everything that came to her instinctually.

Every patient that came into contact with her, trusted her, and was consistently one of the most requested Healer, despite having relatively less experience than other Healers who'd been around for decades.

The way Aaliyah had perfected being in the eye of the storm was something Rose didn't know if she would ever master in the same way.

She tried not to gawk in awe at work, but it was hard when she looked this beautiful - Rose felt her stomach flutter lightly, her breath catching in her throat as the natural light from the skylights and windows lit up Aaliyah's dark brown skin with a luminescent glow.

Aaliyah's dreadlocks were piled neatly on top of her head in beautiful coils, no-nonsense but still regal somehow.

.

"Weasley what are you doing just standing there with that paperwork, file it and get back out there!"

Rose was snapped out of her daydream by an administrative worker snatching the papers from her hands.

He then shooed her back towards the patients, shaking his head and muttering under his breath, "Bloody Healers…. geniuses but nutters the lot of them."

.

As Rose made her way back to the emergency room, Aaliyah came over to her and cast a repellant charm over her robes, "We've got another big one coming in."

Rose took a deep breath and prepared herself.

The doors to the emergency room burst open, with field healers wheeling in person after person on trolley stretchers. As Rose and Aaliyah headed over to the patients, they got updated on the situation by a short but assertive field healer who seemed to be leading the team.

"A potion-shop in diagon alley exploded, potentially from a batch gone wrong or ingredients colliding," he wiped sweat from his brow as he wheeled his patient in and transferred them to a bed in the emergency room.

"There was a fire, patients have chemical burns, it spread to four neighbouring shops with customers inside all suffering from varying degrees of burns, smoke inhalation and some even trapped under the rubble after the explosion - so breaks and crushing injuries. It was brutal."

He took a deep breath, trying to centre himself before heading back out. Knowing how hard being out in the field was Aaliyah gripped his shoulder. "Thanks, we can take it from here. Go rest, get some water, there's food on Level 3," she replied, looking over the dozens of people being brought in.

.

As the field healer nodded and went on his way, Aaliyah turned to Rose, "Okay Rose, you take that half of the room and I'll take this half, we need 5 minute triage assessments, either they need immediate treatment that you can give, they're fine to sit for the moment or we need to call in more people and get help for them."

Rose nodded determinedly and headed over to the first person she saw, an elderly woman with soot on her face and clothes.

As she assessed the patients she'd been allocated, Rose felt her and Aaliyah slip into a perfect rhythm of team-work.

They got through their triage together, organised which junior healers could do what to help with the process, and which patients needed more extensive treatment.

It felt great to be running like clockwork and dealing with the crisis together.

Rose even loved taking directions from Aaliyah, which wasn't usually like Rose (as many of her teachers at Hogwarts would have attested to).

.

"Hey Rose, are you all done here? I could use some help with my last patient, just need to patch up their arms and legs with some burns salve."

Rose smiled, "Yeah, I'll be right there."

Rose finished up the chart and notes of her last patient and went over to Aaliyah's side of the room, glowing from happiness with how they'd handled themselves.

The patient had been given a sleeping draught to help them rest and heal, so was quietly snoring when Rose approached the bed.

"We make such a great team, we totally just aced that whole crisis."

Aaliyah grinned back, "Yeah we kind of did," then her face fell a little.

"Do you ever feel like too much of our relationship is based around work, you know?"

.

Although their hands were both busy applying the burn salve and its pungent sour aroma drifted sharply through the air, the conversation shifted sharply.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked, her brows furrowed in confusion, "We do lots of things outside of work-"

"I mean sure, we hang out but I just feel like we're not really a team in the outside world the way we are in here. You and Sam, you have this dynamic, everyone gets it, like banter or whatever. What's our rhythm outside work?" Aaliyah's heart rate had picked up, she knew she was ruining a perfectly good moment and it wasn't professional but she couldn't help herself.

"Well we met at our place of work, so surely our time here is quite central to our relationship and dynamic as a couple? I definitely don't save lives with Sam, so it logically follows that he could say the exact same thing - 'how well we work together, all the things we have in common that he doesn't understand, for example basic healthcare..."

She laughed tensely but stopped when Aaliyah frowned slightly, "Yeah I guess…"

.

"I can just see your history when you're together, like you have this whole timeline of-"

"Of hurting each other? Of acting like children? Of being melodramatic? I mean, it's not exactly romantic."

"Of course it is, you battled so much to be together and I'm happy for you, truly I am. When I saw him comforting you about that stuff with his Mum at the manor, I honestly felt so happy. It was really wholesome to see how he knew exactly how to be there for you in that moment. It's a thing you know, it's called compersion. When you're just happy to see someone else happy and that's amazing. But I guess even with that I still feel on the outside of everything, I don't know."

Rose sighed, "Well I don't know either Aaliyah, I don't know what I'm doing. At all. All I know is that I thought we did something great today and I wanted to revel in that with you. That was our moment to cherish the amazing things we do together as a team, yes at work, but still. And for some reason you decided to ruin it."

.

She dropped the burn salve onto the wooden tray and walked away, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks as she headed to the showers to get some clean robes and finish her shift.

Some days, Rose loved her job - and even ten minutes ago she'd been so happy…

She pushed down the pain rising to her eyes and swallowed, inhaling slowly.

"Rose wait," she heard a voice call out from the hallway.

Rose stopped walking and her breath caught in her throat, she was filled with trepidation of what might happen if she turned around.

Aaliyah pulled her gently by the hand to face her.

.

Rose searched for meaning on Aaliyah's face, who seemed uncertain but not afraid.

Aaliyah leaned in and rested her forehead against Rose's, her hand running gently through Rose's short red curls and coming to land on the nape of her neck, the other hand rising to cup Rose's cheek.

"I'm sorry." She looked up into Rose's eyes, "I'm just working through my feelings, I didn't mean to ruin our moment. I'm not settled yet. I feel like the grounds shifting underneath my feet, but you're right, we are amazing together, Merlin, _we save lives together_."

They stayed there like that for a moment, before Aaliyah lifted her face and kissed Rose with all the love and all the doubt, all the uncertainty and all the courage, she had within her.

.

Rose grabbed the front of Aaliyah's robes, pulling her close, wondering if she could ever really get close enough, close the way she wanted to be.

As Aaliyah felt every part of Rose's body press up against hers, her thighs, her hips, her arms pulling her in, she swung Rose against the wall of the corridor and pushed back, everything about them flush against each other.

The moan that rasped out of Rose's throats went nowhere as she moaned right into Aaliyah's lips, that were pushing deeper and deeper, lips, tongue… teeth gripping Rose's bottom lip.

Aaliyah felt her heart exploding with the intoxication of their kiss, her whole body was buzzing as her heart dropped and rose again and again, like somersaulting through the air on a broom.

She almost couldn't take it, but she couldn't bare to stop.

.

They stumbled into a Healer's room, used for taking breaks and naps between shifts and locked the door behind them.

Aaliyah all but ripped off Rose's lime green Healer robes, which fell to the floor all too easily.

Pulling off the shirt that lay underneath, Aaliyah laid feverish kisses along Rose's neck and collarbone - this time Rose's moans did escape, filling the air with tension as her fingernails dug into Aaliyah's hips.

They stumbled back onto the bed and Rose creeped her fingers up underneath Aaliyah's shirt to trace a finger underneath the strap of her bra.

Aaliyah gasped from the light, teasing, contact and her eyes closed, head tilting back at the incredible sensation.

Rose whispered into her ear, "Do you want me to take it off?"

Aaliyah's voice quivered as she whispered breathily, "Yes."

With that, they were both lost in a fire of their own making.

Whether they could find their way out remains to be seen.


	24. New Year Surprises

The New Year ushered in another shocking set of circumstances that this rag-tag group of friends could never have foreseen.

Well maybe Sam could have, if he'd taken Greg a little more seriously but to be frank, he still saw some of his friends as teenagers.

When he left Britain he'd put all his friends in a timeless bubble and expected to come back and find them exactly the same.

Even though some of them had beards, and some of them high profile jobs, it was still strange to think they weren't just a moment away from running down the halls of Hogwarts finding trouble… or making it.

.

In any case, no one suspected a thing when Greg invited the whole gang over for Saturday lunch to catch-up in the New Year.

"The food better be good," Jen snarkily commented as she inspected the dishes laid haphazardly out on the table.

"Well if you don't like it Jen dear, feel free to stay hungry," Corey grinned as he shrugged off the frilly pink apron he'd brought especially from home.

Annie patted Jen's shoulder "Don't be snobby Jen."

"That's just because you're used to the food on Guernsey Annie," Adam piped back, as everyone laughed raucously (the food on Guernsey was notoriously… lacking in flavour).

.

Suddenly, a knock at the door surprised everyone.

A hush fell over the room as everyone looked quizzically around the room trying to figure out who might be coming.

Jen and Annie had come in together, Sam, Al, Corey and Adam had been there all morning helping to prepare the meal, Rose and Aaliyah had taken the Floo Network in from Puddletown and Bee had walked over from down the block just moments ago.

Greg casually sauntered over to the door and opened it, "Ah! Hello! Welcome, come right on it."

.

The door swung shut and in entered a suave looking wizard in thin, sweeping cotton robes in deep burgundy and magenta. They were covered by a thick overcoat, which had specks of unmelted snow still settled on the tops of the shoulders.

"Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Rafi."

He had a gentle accent and soft-spoken voice, obviously from somewhere in South Asia. His dark brown skin was flushed, probably from walking through the snow, and despite the coat, his robes looked out of place in the British winter.

Greg followed Rafi into the dining room, smiling jauntily - obviously very proud of himself, but most of the room simply looked on in stunned silence.

Sam, managing to put two and two together - his memories of the conversation he and Greg had at the snowball fight running back through his mind - snapped into action.

"Hello, I'm Sam, it's nice to meet you to." He walked forwards and shook Rafi's hand.

"This is… well everyone," he gestured quickly to the rest of the room.

.

"Let me take your coat Rafi, where have you come in from?"

As Sam hung up his heavy overcoat, Rafi slightly illuminated just exactly what he was doing in Greg's living room.

"I landed in Britain this morning from Bangladesh. I'm staying at a place, funny name, it's called the Leaky Cauldron," he chuckled slightly. "I hope I have not surprised you."

So he had noticed all the shocked faces...

Not to mention, as soon as he said the word Bangladesh, Bee got extremely suspicious.

"Greg, can I talk to you in the kitchen for a moment?" She said through gritted teeth.

.

Greg considered saying no, but the look on Bee's face told him this was not something he was going to avoid.

When the got to the kitchen, Bee whipped around and started terely whispering.

"What on Earth have you cooked up now Baddock!"

Greg mumbled something incoherently.

"Speak up you bastard," she whispered aggressively, trying to remain unheard from the dining room.

"I found you a wizard from Bangladesh," he whispered back coherently this time.

" _Are you insane?_ " Bee threw her hands in exasperation.

So Greg had followed through on his ridiculous plan to find her a husband, one who both she and her parents would approve of.

"He works in magical transportation at the Bangladeshi Ministry, he's progressive, he's not very religious and he did a governmental exchange program in Britain for a year in his early 20s. He'd be happy to move back here-"

"Bee?"

Someone was calling out from the dining room, it seemed their time to fight had run out.

"We are not finished with this," Bee hissed at Greg before exiting the kitching and plastering a smile on her face.

"I mean, I think it's kind of sweet," Jen offered as the girls sat around Bee's flat discussing the unexpected turn of events at lunch.

"Sweet? He didn't even ask her permission," Rose said with a look of distaste on her face.

Annie reached over and rubbed Bee's shoulder as she sat dejectedly on the couch, "What's the harm in just going out to dinner with him tonight? He's gone to all this trouble to come to Britain to meet you, it's not his fault Greg's cuckoo. Besides, you'll regret it if you don't at least try - it really _could_ be the solution to all your family drama."

Bee just let out an exhausted sigh.

.

Rafi had been rather perceptive and quickly realised none of them knew he was going to be joining them at lunch that day. He eased the tension by keeping the mood light with his charming knack for conversation. And of course questions about Rose's family (for who would not ask a few questions to a descendant of The Golden Trio?).

Lunch, while not entirely natural, had finished up soon enough and Rafi had quickly excused himself, despite Greg's protestations.

Before leaving however, he'd let Bee know that he was sorry for any confusion but if she was interested in talking again, to send him an owl at The Leaky Cauldron.

Rose's opinion on Greg's behaviour and the mess it had turned lunch into didn't stop her from agreeing with Annie, "She has a point Bee… there's no harm in going on one date."

Bee mmhmm'd non-comittantly", Can someone grab me some parchment?"

.

The girls had to hold in their squeals of excitement as Bee penned a quick letter to Rafi.

They tried to peer over her shoulder but she looked over at them darkly, "Can you just give me some space?"

Rose ushered them all away with a worried look on her face, Bee wasn't usually one for secrets.

.

When the letter had flown off with Bee's tawny owl she sighed again deeply.

"You can all go home, I think I need some time alone to get ready for tonight."

After a few 'are you sure's and some 'we're happy to stay's, Bee finally managed to shoo them all towards the door.

She did indeed have something to get ready for.

When Bee came tumbling out of Greg's fireplace, she was fuming. She'd been working herself up for an hour before she arrived.

Greg came straight into the living room to check what all the commotion was about so Bee took her opportunity to launch right into the tirade that had been fomenting all day.

" _Greggory Baddock_. Do you have any explanation for the absolutely bizarre day I've just had? I just had to owl some poor wizard to go home because I have absolutely no intention of marrying him."

"What? You didn't even go on one date-"

"No, I didn't even go on _one_ date. What could have possessed you to bring someone to lunch _from Bang - la - desh_?"

She punctuated each syllable with a hard poke to his chest.

.

"OW! I was trying to help smooth things over with your parents. He's handsome, charming, with a good job and the right outlook on life. He's perfect for you! Now you can stop fighting with them."

Bee changed her mind about wanting his explanation "Greg, just stop okay. You're trying to be this bizarre matchmaking knight in shining armour and it's not working. You can't save me from my own life."

"I am not trying to save you, I am trying to _help_ you!"

.

This only infuriated Bee more, "Do you know how patronising it is to have you try and tell me what I need? I know what I need!"

She felt almost alight with rage but Greg wasn't going down meekly.

"Then tell me! Tell me what you need," he fired back.

Bee rolled her eyes, "You know, even Rose knows when to keep out of my business, it's called _boundaries_."

"Well I'm sorry for caring about you-"

"No you bloody aren't, you were basically smug with pride when you wheeled poor Rafi out like a prize hippogriff. Greg, I know you care about me but this isn't helping. You crossed a line!"

.

Greg looked downcast, his whole body feeling heavy with the knowledge that he had monumentally fucked up.

"I'm sorry Bee, I'm so sorry, I messed up. Just tell me how to fix it and I'll do it, I swear."

"You can't fix this Greg… That's the whole point. My life is complicated and messed up and it hurts, but that's just how it is."

Greg grabbed her hand and pulled her closer, "Do you know how hard it is for me to bear seeing you every day just caught in this limbo? At least if you cut your parents out you could just be free of this-"

"Yeah and I also wouldn't have a family!"

.

Bee let that sink in for a moment.

"I'm sorry, I'm _sorry_ ," he whispered, "I just…" His voice trailed off without finishing the sentence.

Bee's chest swelled with emotion as Greg look deeply into her eyes, as if he could just drown in their inky darkness. Her voice quietened too, "If you knew just how contrary all this is to what I want, you would die laughing…"

She looked down and scoffed darkly.

A look of confusion flashed across Greg's face, "What do you mean?"

.

She pulled away in frustration, "You shouldn't have to know, I was supposed to decide if I was going to tell you."

"Bee, what in Merlin's name is going on..."

"I mean, I wasn't trying to hide it, not in the beginning, but we're just _such_ good friends and I didn't want anything to change."

Bee sighed and muttered, "I never properly admitted it to myself, let alone anyone else."

Greg could feel his blood pressure rising, what had she been hiding from him?

"You never admitted what?"

But Bee ignored him, rambling, "We have a business together, we have a life, I've never wanted more. I'm not jealous, I'm not pining, I'm not sad. I've loved you in my own way for as long as I can remember and in my mind, you've never needed to know the details. I could have loved you forever like that, but now?"

.

He raised his voice in a panic, he just needed to know now, the suspense was going to give him a heart-attack.

"Beena Hossain, _what are you saying_?"

"I'm saying that you've forced my hand, because you decided to do the most ridiculous thing known to wizard-kind and find me a husband! I have to tell you. Now? You have to know. Rafi is not what I want. Rafi can never solve my problems."

"Why _?_ " Greg all but yelled, his face flushing like it was about to burst.

She could think too long, it had to escape, "Because I'm in love with you!"

It practically leapt out of her mouth and a weight that had been heavy on Bee's shoulders for so long was finally lifted.

But the silence that filled the room was bearing down on both of them and even though Bee knew there hadn't been any other way out but to tell Greg the truth, she still wondered if she'd made a horrible mistake.


	25. Breathe

Greg sat down heavily on the couch, staring at the ground in confusion as his collared shirt suddenly felt all too tight around his neck.

Bee turned to go, but even as she apparated desperately away she heard Greg's voice through the swirl.

"Wait."

.

* * *

.

"Okay, so your plan to fix Bee's love life epically failed. You didn't honestly think it was going to work did you?"

Adam was sprawled on Greg's couch, attempting to make sense of the pale-faced who had stuck his head in Adam's fireplace and muttered something about Rafi and Bee and love and _just bloomin help me dammit Adam_.

"I mean, I considered that she just might not like him but I didn't expect it to backfire quite this much Adam!" Greg's voice was high-pitched and anxious as he sat on the ground.

He was leaning his back against an archchair, his panicky face turned towards Adam in annoyance and more than a hint of desperation.

"Look mate, this is not a hard equation. If you're into Bee romantically back everything's fine and dandy, if you don't... then you don't. It's that simple."

"It's _not_ that simple, you buffoon. If I tell Bee that I feel the same - which means 'in love', not into her, not crushing on her, _in love_ with her - then things will be fine and dandy. Literally anything less than that and my life will never be the same!"

Adam struggled to hold back a laugh at Greg's melodrama, but he held it together and put on his most soothing voice.

"She'd understand Greg. She'd understand if you said that you want to date and see where things go, not everyone goes around harbouring feelings of deep romantic love for potentially a decade and not saying anything."

.

"And if I don't feel the same at all, everything will change. Our cooperative, our nights out…"

"True, if that's the case then I guess you can thank yourself for the end of your social and professional life, all because you backed her into a corner and went way too far trying to marry her off to someone else."

Greg threw a cushion from his armchair at Adam, "That's not helpful!"

"Well you haven't given me any information about how you feel, so there's not much to be helpful about is there? She will understand if you don't feel the same, we'll get through this."

Adam paused emphatically, "But you have to answer the question, do you feel anything romantic towards her?"

The question hung in the air like mist, ensconcing Greg in panic and silence.

.

He tried to answer it, tried to form words, but all that came out were a series of muttering sand false starts.

"Well, I…"

"It's..."

"I don't…"

After a few more seconds of nothing answers Adam sighed, "Maybe you need to sleep on it and I should leave you to it…"

"Wait! It's just hard because I've never let myself think of Bee like that. We've been platonic, like really platonic friends, for almost 14 years and since we started working together? We have even more boundaries. We don't discuss work outside the physical limits of the shop, we don't banter or joke around there or talk about personal stuff, and when we're not working everything is just… natural. She talks to me about her struggles with her family and I know it's been hurting her for a really long time. And she knows everything about me, how clumsy I am, what a clean-freak I am, she knows my parents - it's hard to just make this instant shift in how all of those interactions and our relationship suddenly has this different meaning."

.

"Sure it's hard to make that shift instant, but you have to have felt something beyond surprise, when she said it. Were you happy?"

"I don't know, my heart just started wildly beating and I just got worried, and then she left so suddenly even though I told her to wait-"

Adam interjected, "What would you have said to her if she had stayed?"

Greg's eyes were back on the ground, "I don't know!"

"Well just pretend she's here now. What would you tell her?"

Greg looked up, "Well no offence, but you don't really match her description."

Adam scoffed and threw back the pillow Greg had fired at him, "Use your _imagination,_ you dolt."

.

Greg took a deep breath and let go. "I'd say how unfair it is that she never told me… I feel like there's all this meaning I didn't know was there. Like I've been missing out on this whole life, that was meant to be mine."

Adam nodded, breathing an internal sigh of relief that Greg was finally getting somewhere beyond a giant ball of anxiety, "And are you disappointed you've been missing out on knowing? Why would you have preferred to know?"

"Because she kept it a secret, she kept that life from me and I wish I had known sooner because then I wouldn't have brought some poor chap out from Bangladesh."

Adam almost rolled his eyes with frustration, Greg was still avoiding the question.

.

"Why did you want her to stay? What did you really want to say to her?"

"That I care about her. That it was killing me that she was so upset about her parents and that there isn't anything wrong with having someone take care of her for once." Greg's heart was still beating out of his chest, his flight or fight response was still kicking.

'This isn't a matter of life or death you ridiculous body' Greg groaned to himself.

"Do you mean Rafi? Or do you mean you?" Adam held his breath, waiting to see if Greg would finally admit something that might actually address the issue.

"I mean me. What's wrong with letting me help her? Letting me take that pain away? She was so angry Adam, she was so mad that I brought him-"

"She wasn't mad at you trying to help her, she was mad that you did so with another wizard. A wizard that wasn't you."

.

"No, no. She said that I was trying to be a knight in shining army, that I was trying to… to save her from her own life. That it was patronising!"

"Well you did basically try to take over her life love, without her knowledge or consent."

"I know, I know I went too far. But that's because she never told me how she felt about me!. She never told me how we could fix her problem, which was for the solution to be me!" Greg shouted in frustration.

'He's getting there…' Adam thought silently.

Greg stood up angrily, "This whole time, she wouldn't have had to be berated or put down by her parents. This whole time she was struggling and I could have been there for her? And she never told me!"

"To be fair Greg, you didn't suggest it either-"

"I didn't think she'd ever see me that way."

"And she didn't think you'd ever see her that way… she still doesn't."

.

Greg didn't reply. Adam could almost see his head ticking with possibilities.

And then he walked over to his fireplace and threw in some Floo powder, vanishing in a lick of Green light.

"Finally," Adam muttered to himself, with an eye roll.

'He should have apparated though,' he thought to himself cheekily.

.

* * *

.

"Bee, you did the right thing. He had to know why you were so against Rafi and it was the right thing to do, to send that poor wizard home."

Rose was boiling tea in Bee's kitchen as Bee moped around at the counter, feeling sorry for herself.

"I put off telling him so many times, I would have skirted around it if I could, but I just couldn't anymore. He backed me into a corner."

Rose smiled, "To be fair, you backed yourself into a corner by not telling him in the first place. He never would have gone to find Rafi if he knew you were in love with him."

"Yes, but then he would have known I was in love with him. You see my problem," Bee said wryly.

.

"He went all the way to Bangladesh in an attempt to make you happy. That's not normal friend dedication, even I wouldn't have done that and I love you to the moon and back."

"Don't get my hopes up Rose. The truth is I've been hoping for too many years. If I'd just told him and he said no, I could move on Rose. But I didn't. I just held onto it and used it as an excuse not to date or get married and now it's finally over. It's a good thing really."

But Rose could hear the quiver in Bee's voice that signalled tears were about spill down her flushed, brown cheeks.

She reached for the kettle and was in the middle of pouring a mug of steaming black tea when they both heard a thumb in the living room.

Bee jumped up immediately to see who had entered through the Floo network.

.

Words started gushing out of Greg's mouth the minute he got up from the living room floor.

"I never thought you would think of me like that Bee, never."

Greg's heart was beating so wildly he felt he might collapse, but he knew he had to keep going, he had to get it out.

"If I had known, I would have never gone all the way to Bangladesh to find someone to love you because that person has been here the whole time. Believe me, I'm kicking myself that I didn't consider that an option, I just never thought you'd see me that way."

Rose put the kettle down and snuck down the hallway, trying to listen in as Bee stood transfixed in front of the fireplace, her hands clenched into fists.

"I love you so much, Bee. It's the only reason I went off to find Rafi, because I want you to be happy. And if you're telling me that what would make you happy is me? I would be an idiot to turn you down."

.

Bee let out a cry of glee as Greg swept her into a hug and lifted her off the ground, but when he put her down he didn't let go.

Bee's hands went to his face and dusted the ash from Flooing off his hair and cheeks.

He smiled, "What are you doing?"

"Dusting you off first."

And then when he was respectably clean she leaned in slowly and hovered her lips over his.

"Am I clean enough?"

She giggled, "Yes."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded, grinning, and with that Greg closed the inch between them quickly, his hand reaching into her thick black hair to cradle her neck.

At this point Rose tip-toed back to the kitchen and finished pouring her tea… they looked like they might be a while.

.

Bee felt like she was still spinning from when Greg first pulled her close, her chest exploding with a pounding heart, gasping lungs, rushing blood and lips, tongue, teeth, tingling with fervent kisses.

She wrapped an arm across his shoulder and clung on for dear life as he kissed her deeply and longingly, gentle yet passionate.

Bee's lips were soft and full, Greg felt so consumed by the taste of her, the way she nibbled his bottom lip, how she flicked her tongue dashingly across his, daring him to capture it.

Her fingers stroked his cheek lovingly and he was overcome with emotion, "Bee," he whispered.

Not sure if he was calling to her or revelling in her.

When they finally came to rest, foreheads leaning on each other, Bee wiped away the tears that had finally made their way home.

.

"I'm so mad at you for not telling me," he muttered, perhaps to explain, perhaps to express.

"I know, I'm so mad at you for bringing me Rafi," she chuckled back at him.

"I know, I'm so madly in love with you."

"I know."

And then she kissed away more tears and held him to her, while they both finally breathed a fresh breath.


	26. It's My Party And I'll Cry If I Want To

In the aftermath of Bee and Greg finally getting their shit together (and poor Rafi being sent off home, confused but understanding), Adam, Greg, Al and Sam decided to do what they'd excelled at in Hogwarts and hadn't had the chance to do for years - throw a party!

With Corey's birthday coming up and March officially being one of the most boring months of the year, they gathered their heads together and tried to plot their friend a birthday bash he would never forget.

"We need lights and dancing and fire whisky and performers - and not Hugo, he does every Potter-Weasley function, and he and Corey are cool since they broke up… but not that cool. We need someone different but not too pricey," Adam began as they all sat down to brainstorm.

"Idea!" Sam quipped, "Albus' quidditch team do a flying… strip-tease!"

.

"Are you trying to land me on the front cover of Witch Weekly? Don't be ridiculous," Al replied defensively, his face burning with premonitions of embarrassment.

"Yeah but Corey would love that… do you think you could convince them?" Greg queried.

Al moaned in annoyance and rolled his eyes, but he had enough of a sense of humour to recognise it would be very suited to entertainment for Corey's birthday.

Adam brought them back in, "Guys, focus. Let's try and lock in a professional act and if we get the Tornadoes on board - that's a bonus."

.

Greg chuckled at the thought of Al naked on a broom but brought his mind back to the task at hand, "Well I'm good to run the bar and provide all the mixers and drinks. Should be able to source bulk fire whisky from our wholesalers and I can whip up some signature cocktails too. The Corey Story? The Haunted Hornby? Everyone forgets his great great Aunt was haunted by Moaning Myrtle."

They all laughed, remembering the many times Corey was chased around Hogwarts by Moaning Myrtle.

"Thanks Greg, great idea," Adam nodded approvingly, "Can anyone take on venue?"

"That's easy, we'll do it at Malfoy Manor," Sam volunteered.

"Corey loves the place and I can get it decorated and also sort some food. I'll decorate the ballroom as if I were Corey myself," he paused dramatically, flaring his hands out in front of him to set the scene.

"Disco balls, rainbows and mood lighting everywhere. You know," Sam paused waiting for everyone to chime in.

"The ambience," they all chorused, imitating Corey and then bursting into laughter.

.

Al sighed loudly as if in great sacrifice, "And I'll try to get the Tornadoes organised. You lot owe me for this one!"

They all snorted with laughter and banter, excited to see how well they could pull everything together.

.

* * *

.

When Corey walked unsuspectingly into the ballroom at Malfoy Manor after Astoria (who had been waiting near the fireplace) told him that's where everyone was, he was not ready...

"SURPRISE!" Everyone shouted as he made his entrance to almost 100 people shooting streamers and sparks out of their wands.

"AHHHHHHHHHSGH," Corey replied, screaming in terror.

Adam snapped a shot on a bulky camera he had brought for the occasion and the Slythindor boys split their sides laughing at Corey's reaction.

"You didn't!" He yelled at them, whether about taking the photograph of his reaction or throwing the party in general, he didn't know.

"We did," Adam grinned as they all crowded around Corey to hug him.

Corey jumped up and down in excitement, soaking in the hall, all of his friends and colleagues, the decorations, a stage, the bar - until Sam called out, "Hit the lights!"

.

With a flick of her wand, Rose dimmed the room and lit up the disco ball hanging in the centre of the ballroom, colourful lights refracting off its surface.

A hush fell over the room as someone stepped out onto the stage and grabbed a microphone.

Then the crowd erupted into screams, cheers and applause as the singer opened her mouth and music filled the room.

Everyone started dancing, rushing to the front of the stage and singing along, as the rest of the band came out from behind the stage wings, guitars, whistling saws, banjos, drums and all.

Corey squealed and then yelled over the music, " _How did you get The Bent-Winged Snitches?!_ "

Adam shrugged, "They were already in town and the International Magical Cooperation department was approving their latest tour - so I pulled some strings."

.

Corey hugged Adam again and dragged him to the front of the stage where a mosh pit had formed, where they both sang along (terribly) to The Bent-Winged Snitches latest hit in their decades-long career.

Rose grinned and squeezed Aaliyah's hand affectionately, as they hung at the back of the crowd.

Aaliyah raised her mouth to Rose's ear, "You did such a good job Rose! He's having the time of his life already and it's been about 5 minutes."

"Yeah, it really did come together. I mean I barely did anything except set up the lights but, it definitely had its desired effect."

They both chuckled as they saw Corey, Adam, Sam and Al jumping up and down in the mosh pit with their arms in a huddle.

"Come on, let's join them!" Rose suggested, her heart thumping as they pushed their way into the throng and danced to the music.

They were welcomed into the fold by Corey, and somehow Jen, Annie and Bee had wormed their way through the mass of bodies to the front.

.

Sam even gave Aaliyah a twirl as they boogied down, and they both collapsed in laughter when she tried to return the favour only to find Sam far too tall and trapped his head in the crook of her elbow.

Rose smiled in contentment, so happy to see them getting along. She was finally feeling like everything was working between the three of them.

.

After a few more songs, The Bent-Winged Snitches pulled Corey up onstage, wished him a happy birthday and flew off on brooms with a flourish.

Unbeknownst to Corey, the flurry of brooms was a signal for Al and the Tutshill Tornados to begin their routine.

They flew into the room in an… interesting set of quidditch robes (for ease of flinging off) as Rose swished her wand and set some music to play over the loudspeakers.

An old classic number of Celestina Warbeck's - A Cauldron Full Of Hot, Strong Love.

Everyone burst into laughter but also whoops of excitement as the team flew around in formation, although Alice Longbottom could barely move her eyes from the ground, except to glance at Al every few moments and then look away again.

Every few beats flinging off their robes to reveal their shirtless torsos, or kicking off shin pads and gloves, to the beat of the music.

Corey was torn between laughing and cheering at all his eye candy, but always snorting when he saw Al's uncoordinated attempts to pull off his robes, almost falling off his broom multiple times.

At the end of the song, they finished with a flourish on the ground surrounding Corey neatly, in pale blue boxer shorts - their team colours.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY COREY!" They team yelled in unison to raucous applause

.

After the show was over, Al raced away to re-clothe himself and Corey headed to the bar to grab a few of his signature cocktails from Greg.

He almost choked with laughter on the Haunted Hornby he was downing when he heard it's name, but after a few good thumps on the back from some work colleagues he continued chatting with everyone he bumped into and accepting well-wishes.

It was a good many hours of drinking, eating, dancing and talking before the buzz started wear off, and a familiar feeling settled into the pit of Corey's stomach.

He made his way to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face.

He was gazing into the mirror, trying to bring some more clarity to the image staring back at him, when Aaliyah walked in.

She almost headed straight into a stall, but something about Corey made her stop.

.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Corey forced a smile, "Yeah of course," but whether it was Healer's intuition or an understanding between the two of them neither had known was there, Aaliyah didn't believe him.

She walked over to the sinks and started adjusting her hair in the mirror.

"How do you feel about being 25 then? Adulthood is well and truly here, there's no hiding from that anymore."

"25 is fine… Wizards don't get the luxury of being children for long, everyone's always married with kids by 20."

.

Aaliyah grinned, "Thankfully not our generation. We finally got gayer and less attached to reproducing."

Corey shrugged, "Or it's an economic downturn and everyone's saving their sickles. Not that the Weasley's or Potter's or Malfoys will ever be concerned with such things, I mean look at this _bathroom_."

A strange feeling of comfort spread across Aaliyah's chest, finally someone who understood how bizarre and lavish everything was.

"So you… feel it too? They're all so used to such extreme wealth and no one says a word about it! I thought I was the only one feeling out of place."

"Oh honey no! Bee's family are muggles who work as cleaners, they can't afford to live anywhere near central muggle London, and mine live on a farm. A farm! Obviously I had to get the fuck out of there and never return."

"Do you see your family anymore?"

.

Corey paused, applying some bright red lipstick to his lips as he stared into the mirror in silence.

"Sometimes, but we don't have much in common, I mean look at me," he smacked his lips and popped the cap back onto the lipstick.

"Being friends with the likes of Potters and Malfoys, you get used to the disparity. I had all my uncomfortable jaw-dropping moments back when I was 13. I mean, imagine getting to come home to thi-i-i-s," he gestured around graphically, swooping his hands emphatically around at the bathroom.

"My family were actually one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, my grandparents probably had more in common with the Malfoys than I like to admit, but my parents are estranged from them. Guess that's what you got for marrying a muggle-born back then."

.

"Interesting. So they're used to pushing boundaries - has that made them more okay with the fact that you're queer?"

"Not really… They've never known of any queer couples who settled down, had families like everybody else - they've always been worried I'll live a life less well-lived because of it."

"They're not wrong… It's pretty rare for magical children to be left orphaned and with no relatives to look after them. Even rarer for one to end up in the muggle system. And look at me, I'm totally alone."

Corey's voice broke a little, but he just looked up at the ceiling praying no tears would spill out and betray him.

"What in Merlin's name do you mean Corey? Everyone out there, is out there for you! You are not alone."

.

"I'm sure they feel great about the fabulous party they've put on, it's great entertainment to have a gay friend and do strip teases, and cover the room in rainbows, but when do I actually get what they all have? When do I get my happily ever after? I don't. I don't get kids, I don't get a partner and all them out there are too busy hooking up with each other, I mean Bee and Greg? That was like 5 years in the making and I'm just…"

Corey let silence take over the bathroom for a moment because his tears had finally become uncontainable. He blinked them away.

"Don't you ever feel like time has gotten away from you? Like everybody's life is just coming together and yours is just rushing past," he whispered.

Aaliyah moved closer to Corey and put her hand on his back, rubbing it firmly as they both leaned against the sink tops, their backs to the mirrors, not wanting to see what was reflected back at them.

.

Aaliyah took a deep breath and tried to think carefully of what to say next.

"I have always known I was gay. What took me a while to realise was just how much that narrowed my romantic options. Most people aren't queer and that means we have less opportunities to find someone… someone right for us. It's disappointing and unfair to see all of your high school friends flirting and dating and finding people so easily, I know how that feels. Before Rose, I honestly hadn't been on a date in 3 years. 3 years! It's why, when Sam came into Rose's life again, I wasn't willing to let her go, because I knew just how much she meant to me."

Corey surreptitiously wiped his tears away, but taking comfort in the smooth rhythm of Aaliyah's hand on his back.

"If you want what they have, you have to go out and find it Corey. Go travelling, go to a country where you didn't go to school with every single person in it…"

They both laughed bleakly.

.

"And if you're family back on that nowhere farm have anything nasty to say about it, just delete them from your life. You have a chosen family, and they're out there in that ballroom dancing their butts off for you."

Corey laughed again and nodded softly.

"Thank you, for doing this."

It was unspoken between them, but they both heard it.

 _Thank you for actually getting it._

.

"Okay, but I really do actually need to pee-" Aaliyah laughingly uttered.

"Go, go, go, go! Take care of that bladder!" Corey pushed her towards a stall.

But she turned back and gave him a strong hug.

"Happy Birthday lovely."

He grinned, "Go pee!"

.

Corey left the bathroom lighter than he had felt in a long time, his chest swelling with warmth and a radiant smile on his face, framed of course with an excellent coat of red lipstick.


	27. Quidditch From The Stands

It was finally the season for getting into the stands and cheering Al on as he raced around various Quidditch pitches in Britain, competing with national teams from all over the country.

Spring was in there air on the crisp March morning the gang arrived to watch Al's first game of the season.

The Tutshill Tornados warmed up by racing around the pitch and doing a few drills with the quaffle, while their competing team, the Falmouth Falcons stayed in the locker rooms out of respect to the home team.

Rose still had a scarf wrapped around her neck, but delighted in the feeling of the breeze playing across her shorn scalp around the back of her head and playing with the curly ringlets of her fringe, draped across her forehead.

Rose maintained it really was one of the world's greatest travesties that so many people lived their whole lives without the joyous tingle of the sun and wind on a bare scalp.

.

Aaliyah didn't have any particular passion for Quidditch but she soon realised that Rose's love for the Chudley Cannons was superseded only by her love for a good game, so she tagged along. She took a deep breath in, enjoying the smell of freshly cut grass and flowers blooming - and let's be frank, it never hurts to have a few extra Healer's onsite at a Quidditch game.

She sat with Corey on one side and Rose on the other, they'd gotten quite chummy since his birthday party and the moment they shared stayed between them - a little secret whispering through their blossoming friendship.

Aaliyah had always thought that her compassion for her patients was what made her such a great healer, and it served her well in friendship too.

Without alerting anyone else, Corey whipped out a stash of slightly squished pumpkin pasties and shared them with Aaliyah, as they settled in to watch the game.

.

"Fred, move ohhhh-ver! I want an actually decent view of the game."

"I'm trying, but we have very limited space up here and I'd prefer not to fall out of the stands thank you very much."

Jen and Fred were knocking they're way over to the seats, attempting not to fall over the edge of the stadium with how aggressively they were funneling their way through the crowd.

They finally made it to Greg, Bee, Annie and Adam, who were sitting in the row behind Rose, and Jen huffily sat down, but seemed to shift closer to Fred when he took the seat beside her.

Rose giggled and leaned over to Sam, who was sitting next to her, whispering, "Well they obviously haven't sorted themselves out yet, have they?"

Sam smirked, "We cannot talk Rose, not until they've surpassed the 7 year mark."

Rose rolled her eyes good-naturedly, "Oh look, Alice has come out to watch too."

.

Alice had just made her way to the group and took the seat next to Sam, "Good morning you lot. How's the home team looking?"

She blushed slightly as she sat down, which Rose ignored externally but internally resolved to get to the bottom of...

"The Tornados are looking great - oh look, the Falcons are coming out," Rose tapped Aaliyah excitedly.

As the opposing team filed out of the locker rooms clad in dark grey and white robes, a cheer came up from the stand opposite Rose. The Falcons supporters were clearly making their presence known.

.

The next moment, the starting whistle was blown and the players speedily lifted off the ground and began their fight over the quaffle.

While bludgers and players whizzed around the pitch Rose decided to dig a little deeper into Alice's unassuming blush.

"So Alice, are you just here to watch Al or are you here to scout the competition?"

Alice was a reserve chaser for Puddlemere United and had quite a competitive streak that she hid behind her cheerful and pleasant manner. Anyone who knew her knew she loved Quidditch, but mostly she loved _winning_ at Quidditch.

Alice laughed, "Rose, can't it be both? Albus always goes on and on about how glad he was to sign on with the Tornados and how I was a fool to join Puddlemere, even though they're the best team in the country. Just because I play reserve doesn't mean I'm not an important player in the team, and my salary gets paid either way."

.

"Well Al got so used to being in the limelight at Hogwarts he probably didn't want to step back out of it again. If only being famous and a professional athlete could actually land him some progression in his personal life."

Alice blushed again, and Rose knew she'd said exactly what she needed to, "Well maybe that's just the problem, being so famous, I guess it's hard to know who's being genuine and who's-"

"10 POINTS TO THE FALCONS"

"Yesss", Sam whispered under his breath.

"You're meant to be supporting Al, Sam," Rose laughed.

"We'll the Falcons have been my time since childhood, it's hard!"

"Bally bastard!" Jen called out daringly to the Falcon chaser who had just scored the goal.

Annie pulled Jen back into her seat and muttered a warning to her about inciting a fight with the opposing team's supporters.

.

"Anyway, you're quite right Alice, but I also think Al's always been a bit risk-averse, you know? Not when it comes to Quidditch obviously, but when it comes to love. You wouldn't happen to know if he's seeing anyone would you?"

Rose sounded far too innocent to actually be innocent, with all her leading questions. Sam had noticed, but he was too intently following the path of a Tornado bludger to intervene with the conversation happening over him.

Alice simply stuttered and blushed even more, "Well… I, urm. I can't say - I can't say that I do-"

Rose put the poor girl out of her misery with a cheeky giggle, "Relax Alice! I'm not going to tell anyone. I'm just very happy about it."

Rose leaned her arm across Sam and gave Alice's hand a squeeze.

.

Alice merely sputtered some more, but she knew she'd been caught out.

She and Albus had always had a special kind of friendship, and recently they'd been spending more time together.

She leaned behind Sam and whispered quietly to Rose, "To be honest, I've been dying to tell someone because he kissed me last night and it was… quite marvellous."

Rose held in a squeal, a grin splitting her ear to ear, gripping Alice by the shoulder.

"Just because you say it behind my head and not in front of it, doesn't mean I can't hear you two! Gross!" Sam complained as he leaned forward, trying to focus on the game and block out their whispers.

Then he leaned back and gave Alice a hug around the shoulders, "I'm very happy for you, Al and Al has such a great ring to it - you'll never know who's talking to you ever again."

Then they all snorted and returned to the game, Rose very much satisfied with her gentle prying.

.

"10 POINTS TO THE TORNADOS"

They all settled into watch the game without any distractions, until Bee almost choked on a fly and Annie was too busy laughing to help, then Corey spilled a stash of butter beer on the person next to him and Aaliyah couldn't stop apologising while Adam cuffed Corey on the back of the head from the row behind, and Fred and Jen wouldn't stop muttering but everyone could see how close they were getting but no one was allowed to mention it obviously, and Greg and Bee were surreptitiously holding hands and it was all rather a mess.

It was then that Rose realised, she rather revelled in the chaos of her wonderful friends and the hilarious moments that made life interesting, and the joy of discovering wonderful secrets like Alice's.

Even when the Tornados lost the match (250-100 from a point for point tie!), Rose wasn't disappointed. It still felt like the day had been a win, surrounded by so many people she loved.

The chaotic calm before the storm.


	28. We Tried

In the months after Sam moved back to Britain (post-magical coma), Rose marvelled at the way they flew through things.

Maybe it was because they had been so close for so many years as children, or their near-death experience or maybe it was how they'd always kind of fit together, no matter how hard they tried to push each other away.

They moved through their arguments and disagreements with ease, and moments filled with tension were easily discarded by a soft reaching out, a desire to connect, always.

When Sam told Rose she struggled to see things from his perspective she made a huge conscious effort to try, and when Rose complained about how emotional distance had always been Sam's shelter, he knew how important it was to let go of the comfort of hiding his emotions.

.

Desperate effort and longing created a fertile ground for hours of conversation, thoughtful gifts and intimacy almost unparalleled in speed.

They went from not having spoken even one word in 7 years, to deeply intertwined in many aspects of their life.

And all the while, Rose's relationship with Aaliyah burgeoned in other ways.

They built programs together at St Mungos and worked long shifts and hours on their feet.

At work everything went smoothly, but at home when they were both trying to relax, they found themselves caught up in arguments and miscommunications and mismatched expectations.

.

"I need you to plan further ahead than that Aaliyah, you know scheduling is a really big part of how I fit everything in with my family, and you, and Sam. Can't you change it?"

Rose was livid and rapidly pacing the length of Aaliyah's flat in London.

"I can't change it, it's already set with Marlene-"

"This is so unfair, it's like you don't even want me there!" Rose cried in frustration as she felt tears spring to her eyes.

"Well of course I want you there, but Rose this event is literally not about you!" Aaliyah bit back, knowing it was harsh but feeling it needed to be said.

.

"That is not the fucking point! Of course I know it's not about me, but I would like to be able to support my partner at her promotion party. How could you have made the date without checking with me? All you had to do was tell me what dates you were thinking about, I don't understand."

Rose's tears finally fell as she angrily sat down on the couch and wiped her face with the sleeve of her t-shirt - a rather awkward and ungainly area to try and lift to your eyes.

"I just feel like you are making this promotion about yourself, instead of who it's really about, which is me," but her tone softened as she sat on the couch to comfort Rose.

"And I guess I just thought that you would have bothered to think of me and ask if I could make it, but obviously you didn't."

"And that was a mistake," Aaliyah offered gently, "But I can't fix the problem. It's already been sent out via memo to the whole of St Mungo's."

.

Rose pulled away bitterly, roughly wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand.

"Well whose fault is that then?"

Aaliyah sighed, knowing that she'd screwed up but unable to solve the problem.

It seemed this was just one in a number of tumultuous blow-ups they'd had in the last month.

"Rose, all these ups and downs aren't good for me, for my practice-"

"Well I'm sorry I can't just stop being upset when you keep fucking up."

The silence that hung in the air did not help with the foreboding sense that they were headed somewhere they couldn't come back from.

.

Aaliyah's breathing increased, feeling the attack at the very centre of her chest.

She tried to keep herself calm, like on the wards, "Rose, I am not trying to fuck up, and I'm not the only one fucking up either. You didn't tell me you had anything in the next few weeks, you didn't communicate that they were packed with all manner of birthdays and going away parties and retirement galas. I couldn't have known that and I swear I checked your calendar and it was empty for June 5th."

"Well I've been trying to keep it up to date but you know how big my family is-"

"If it's so big, you should have put in your availabilities properly-"

If you just turn things around and blame me, this is never going to work!" Rose fired back bitterly.

.

Aaliyah took another breath to calm herself but she was too emotionally affected and just felt more blood rush to her head.

"Maybe it's already not working."

Rose was quiet before she piped in a small voice, "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that we've been clashing for ages and I'm just wondering if this is what 'working' looks like?"

"I have been very open with you and what I want, and this party just proves it," Rose replied. "I want to be more of a priority, I need to feel stable and secure with you."

"And I have been trying to give you that but all of these fights are just so draining, I have to wonder if it's working at all!"

"You don't think I find it draining? Of course it is, but this is how we are going to work through our issues."

.

Aaliyah sighed heavily and rubbed her temples, "Are we going to work through them? Or are we going to recognise that maybe I organise so many schedules at work, that in my love life I just want things to be easy or that you're already a big priority and if you get any bigger I'm going to feel like I'm losing myself - I don't want my whole life to revolve around me fitting into your schedule Rose, it's degrading."

Rose burst into tears again and Aaliyah felt crushed, she had felt this conversation coming but Rose clearly hadn't.

As the tears flowed freely Rose didn't try to control herself, she was too shocked.

Maybe things hadn't been going as smoothly as they could have been, but Rose never thought thing would shift to this place, a place where maybe they just didn't want the same things…

.

Aaliyah gently put her arm around Rose, slowly to gauge how she felt about it, Rose didn't pull away.

"Rose, you know I love you, that's not why I'm saying this. I just don't think we're heading in the same direction anymore - and that took as a while to figure out, but now that we've got here, let's not shy away from it."

Rose hiccoughed as she cried, "I just don't want to lose you, I feel awful about this."

"I'm getting a promotion, I'm heading up the ladder - I just don't think this is the right time for me to be getting really codependent and vying for your time with all the other things you have going on, Sam and your family and stuff."

"You were never vying for it, I wanted to make that time for you-"

"And now I'm telling you that I don't want you to do that anymore… I just don't feel like it's right for either of us."

.

Rose wrapped her arms around Aaliyah and they stayed like that for a long time until finally Aaliyah pressed her lips to Rose's and pulled away.

"I love you," Rose whispered weakly.

"I love you too," Aaliyah said back, stronger, with resigned conviction. "I just know that we're not what each other needs right now."

Rose stood up and stepped over to the chimney.

"Will you Floo me? I'm worried my crying will land me somewhere else," she laughed half-heartedly.

"Of course, you should go home."

.

It felt so foreign to Aaliyah for some reason, to be sending Rose away - she didn't know she had the strength.

She grabbed a handful of Floo Powder and threw it into the grate where Rose was standing, "51 Grundy St, Poplar."

Rose's tearful face turned to a sweet smile before she vanished behind a swathe of green flames.

Aaliyah had sent her to Bee's house, ever-thoughtful, as her parting gift.


	29. Breathing In New Life

In the aftermath of her break-up with Aaliyah, Rose leaned on her friends for support and everyone was there to look out for her.

From Bee cuddling her on the couch and providing much-needed well sugared tea the night Rose landed in her fire place, face streaked with tears, to the numerous outings Jen and Annie planned for them all to take her mind off of things.

Al took some time to take Rose out on his broom and fly them through a beautiful area near his house called Mendip Hills. The views were stunning and gave them a place of total quiet to chat, under the cover of a good Disillusionment Charm.

Rose was still as clumsy as ever on a broom, but seated behind Al she felt safe, delighting in the stunning gorges, valleys and lakes covered in beautiful luscious green and the light peeking through the clouds and bathing the world in grey-gold.

.

Sam was there, of course, patiently letting Rose grieve and supporting her through her emotions - but he couldn't escape a sense of responsibility over the break-up.

One night at Rose's house a few weeks after the Aaliyah had ended things, Sam couldn't hold is questions in any longer.

"Rose, you don't think Aaliyah broke up with you because of me do you? Because I really thought this was all working, I don't know what happened."

They were lying in bed together, talking, Sam playing with the curls of Rose's fringe, and as soon as he finished speaking Rose grasped his hand gently and held it warmly in hers.

.

"Don't be ridiculous Sam, don't ever think me and Aaliyah not working out was about you. She never really got into the groove of all my family events and making time for everything - I've been doing it since birth and I still find time to stay at home all cuddled up in Puddletown, but some people don't want to juggle a hundred different social commitments. They're just into a few things and they want everything to be easy…"

"But it wasn't a problem before I came into the picture, I took more of your time-"

Sam felt the guilt that had been building in his chest for weeks burst forth, in a way it was a relief to finally get things out there.

Rose lifted her other hand to his face as they faced each other on the bed and gently rubbed her thumb across his cheek.

.

Her love for him blooming all over again at his concern, "It wasn't a problem before you came into the picture because we hadn't been dating long enough for it to become clear. It can take months, sometimes even years to see that things aren't working out. It started off being about her promotion party, then it was about our schedules, but at the end of the day Aaliyah just didn't feel that we were going in the same direction. She was focused on her promotions and couldn't prioritise me and making time for me anymore… And then fucking hurts, but please don't blame yourself Sam, it honestly had nothing to do with you."

Sam sighed and turned his face into Rose's palm, lifting up a hand and gently kissing it.

"I just can't help but think that if I'd never come home, you would still be together…"

"We might have been, but then I wouldn't have gotten to finally let myself fall in love with you. And wouldn't that have been a huge tragedy Jack? Didn't we both deserve that chance?"

"Yes Cherry, we did."

He leaned over and kissed her gently, pulling her hand to his heart where she could feel it beating strongly and steadily.

The next day at St Mungo's, Rose passed Aaliyah in the hall - they both smiled and nodded at each other, each hiding their heart-break so respectfully and professionally it was almost comical.

At first it had been hard seeing each other at work, but they would get there. Get back to the great working relationship they'd always had.

The screams of a labouring mother pulled Rose's attention as she entered the first hospital room on her list.

"Hi Celia, how are we doing this morning? I see you've just checked in after waking up with contractions and waiting till they were 5 minutes apart! A perfect patient."

Celia just screamed in response - her partner eventually responded.

.

"We knew the recommended time to come in, but they're getting really bad now, my arm's about to fall off!" She said cheerfully, but not without a grimace as to the pain.

Celia screamed again from her bed and Rose hopped into action.

"Right Celia, let's have a look at you shall we? I'm just going to see how dilated you are and whether baby's in a good position to come on out and meet you. Feet up to your bottom now, that's it."

Rose did her examination and saw baby was very much on their way, it wouldn't be long before Celia could start pushing.

.

"Now Celia, you're doing so well, but I think a bit of gravity is going to help you with this one. Do you think, seeing as we're waiting for our next contraction, you could hop off the bed and then your partner…

"Parveen," she nodded excitedly.

"Parveen," Rose continued, "Is going to stand right on the bed in front of you and give you a lot of good support on your arms. I'm going to sit behind you and in a few more minutes we're going to start pushing, and I'll catch baby on the way out. Sound like a plan?"

Celia nodded shakily as Parveen held out her arms and helped her move into position.

.

After another 10 minutes of contractions, Celia was all but screaming the roof off of St Mungo's, but Parveen was stoically weathering the crushing grip on her hands.

"All right, I want you to pant now Celia, good even breaths and quick ready, pant with her Parveen."

They breathed together as another wave of contractions took over and the baby's head was born.

"Baby's head has been born Celia, you're doing so well. One more push now and it will all be over. When you're ready."

Celia screamed again, crying with frustration, determination and pain, but she knew what was waiting for her at the end of all this hurt - a miracle.

.

As the baby slid out, Rose caught the tiny body in a perfectly clean lime green towel, as the baby took their first breath and began to cry.

"Oh well done Celia, they're here. They're right here for you." Rose used her wand to cut the cord handed Celia the beautifully, if hastily wrapped, screaming baby over as the two mothers cried in wonder.

"Now we still need to deliver the afterbirth Celia so why don't you hand baby over to Parveen."

Parveen gasped as Celia handed the baby over, but Celia chuckled, "I'm sorry Parveen, they're covered in quite a bit of my blood aren't they, poor bloody thing."

Parveen laughed too, and once the afterbirth was delivered, Rose cleared everything away and checked over Celia once more.

.

While she was finishing up Rose queried, "Do you have a name yet?"

"We're thinking Avery," Parveen said with a grin.

Celia just nodded tearily, apparently lost for words.

As Rose left the new family to their privacy, she couldn't help being renewed with a wonder at the beauty of her job.

The image of them both huddled around the new life breathing air for the first time, left Rose with a new breath of life herself and she was finally ready to move on.


	30. Valarian Root Mishaps

"Jen, we've been at it for hours. I think we should just call it a night and try again tomorrow."

"Quitter!" Jen cried defiantly at Fred, his dark skin glowing in the vague firelight flicering in the brackets on the wall in the WWW development workshop.

She swished her wand valiantly at a pair of Valarian roots lying innocently on a workstation, unmoving.

He rolled his eyes, yet still held back a chuckle, unable to quash the admiration he felt for this fierce, Laotian woman.

.

They had been trying all day to concoct a new sleep-joke item for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and Jen was convinced that the sedative qualities of Valarian root could be adapted into lolly-form to induce irresistible napping for a few minutes.

"I am so close Fred, I just need to find the right frequency to get this root into a liquid form without the bother of soaking, grinding, juicing and straining it - all of which will get very little liquid anyway. Do you want to bother soaking, grinding, juicing and straining?"

She stabbed her wand viciously in his direction and it crackled with blue electricity.

Fred's afro started to stand on end as strands of electricity tickled him from the wand.

"No, of course not Jen. I just think we've tried our best _for today_ ," he replied, but he still raised his hands up in surrender.

When the crackle had built up more menacingly, Jen quickly turned back to the Valarian root and zapped it with a sizzle.

.

The root looked un-changed for a moment, then slowly melted down into a puddle of goo.

"By Merlin Jen, you did it!" Fred dropped his hands in awe.

Jen turned to him and squealed in excitement, "EEEEE! Perfect for jelly witches or jelly pythons and almost no processing needed!"

They came together naturally and hugged each other in excitement, Fred getting rather caught up and lifting her off the ground with a spin. When he finally popped her back on the ground they stayed close to each other.

"Jennifer Keothavong, you are a damn genius."

"I know," she grinned wryly.

.

Fred had never seen her smile this close up, her tanned, brown face only inches away, her straight black hair framing her smile with one crooked tooth in the corner.

It was the tooth that finally tipped him over the edge, but just as he was about to pull her close, Jen wrapped her arms around his neck and closed the distance for him.

.

Their lips met with the passion and excitement of new discoveries.

Fuelled by success and innovative new prank products, fuelled further by the closeness they'd developed working together over the past year.

Jen sunk her fingers into the hair at the base of Fred's neck as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

Fred couldn't stop thinking; about her irresistible crooked tooth that he ran his tongue over, of the soft skin of her lips, of the lightning bolts surging up his spine as her fingers intertwined around the back of his neck and trailed across his scalp.

Jen on the other hand, couldn't think at all. She was almost incoherent with sensation, if Fred had asked her a question, she wouldn't have been able to respond. All she knew was that her lips were on fire and the warm spread of pleasure from her stomach all the way to her fingertips was turning her to jelly, just as she had done to the Valarian Root.

.

Fred lifted Jen onto the workstation and lifted his lips to the tender spot of skin just underneath her jaw.

She moaned at the the feeling of his lips gently sucking, kissing, biting.

Before Fred even knew what had happened, her robes were off, dropped onto the workstation, both hands leaning on the table as she pulled his lips back up to hers.

.

As they pushed and pulled back and forth between them, Jen moaned again - although it didn't sound quite like a moan.

A moment later, Fred concluded it definitely wasn't a moan as she fell onto him limply and let out another distinct noise that definitely wasn't a moan.

It was… a snore.

He pulled her off the table and saw she had stuck her hands and even sat on part of the jellyfied Valarian root, which had obviously become neatly absorbed directly through her skin.

He let out a deep belly laugh and pulled Jen off the table as she let out another snore, blissfully put to sleep by the product break-through that had started it all.

.

Picking her up around the knees and shoulders, Fred apparated her to his home down the street from the shop and laid her gently on the couch.

As he tucked a blanket over her Jen let out another incredibly loud snore and Fred chuckled again, before turning off the light and heading to bed.

'We'll have to make sure we dilute that Valarian route in our product, we don't want anyone being quite as knocked out at Jen is now,' he thought to himself, chuckling again.

"Oh my fucking god, you fell asleep!" Annie exclaimed, her hand slapping Jen's arm playfully.

Jen grimaced in embarrassment, "I put my hand and arse directly into some jellyfied Valarian root and it absorbed straight through my skin! I woke up the next morning thinking it was a fucking dream until I realised I was on Fred's couch, in Fred's apartment, with Fred making me coffee!"

Rose guffawed as she added a sugar to Jen's tea and stirred, "What did either of you say?"

"I just said, 'I got done by the Valarian root didn't I?' and he said 'Yeah, real bad. It was adorable and hilarious,' then I got off the couch and turned to leave in the Floo and he said 'Jen, don't go, stay for breakfast' and so I did and then after breakfast he snogged my face off and then said 'I'll owl you' and I needed a shower so I grinned all dopey like and went home and then I came straight here and I have _no idea what is happening_."

.

Jen took a deep breath and Bee patted her sympathetically on the back - the only one of them to not have openly laughed at the situation.

"What's happening dear, is I believe you and Fred Weasley are now an item and that's lovely, that's a good thing isn't it?" Bee offered kindly.

Nodding her head hopefully, Jen drank her tea quietly in the hopes that the incredibly ridiculous events of last night would make for a great story one day, when she was over the sting and could laugh about it.

.

"Well I for one," Annie piped up, "think it's wonderful that you've finally addressed the almost unbearable sexual tension-"

"LALALALALALALALA!" Bee interrupted loudly with her fingers in her ears.

Everyone giggled raucously as Annie exclaimed again, "Fine! But as the only single lady left here I maintain that until I get a girlfriend I am _entitled_ to make fun of those you here who deserve to be made fun of."

Cries of disagreement rang throughout the apartment and the banter continued as Jen blushed her way through her cup of tea, rather astonished that she was managing to feel so clumsy and mortified, and yet so giddy and happy at the same time.

.

As time would tell, the Valarian root jelly witches turned out to be a great hit at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes… and so did Jen and Fred.


	31. Faithfully

"When you love someone, you open yourself up to the opportunity for pain. You give them the power to hurt you, because no one can hurt you more than someone you love, someone you trust, someone you put your faith in."

Rose's voice quivered slightly as she took a deep breath in, quieting her nerves as she looked out over the huge well-lit room filled with dozens of family members and friends.

"I think at the end of the day though, I believe that it's worth it. We all do. We have to believe that intimacy and care, and sharing your life with someone makes all that vulnerability, the risk of pain, worth it. Because the pain is coming. Whether it's when someone passes away or leaves you or breaches your trust, or admits that they've had a partner the entire time they were falling in love with you…"

.

Rose paused and laughed, "And after every, crazy thing that we've been through Sam, including all the pain and hurt, I have realised that I would do it all again. Okay maybe not being obliviated or your near-death experience, but _pretty_ much everything else. If I could go back, I would open myself up to that pain every single time because being close to you, loving you and letting myself be loved by you, is a risk I am willing to take. I didn't always feel that way, I didn't want to let you in or confront my feelings for you, I was too young and too immature, and honestly quite a bit more vindictive than I am now - I _know_ , if you can believe that was possible."

She waited like an expert for the laughs to roll in, then continued.

"I know that there are better ways to deal with conflict now, healthier more sustainable ways of being, and you've taught me that. You have shown that love is not selfish or possessive, that love is not limited or finite. You have proven each and every day that we have been together, just how much love we both have the capacity for and I am so fucking thankful that we finally got our shit together enough to actually live that truth."

.

She turned away from the audience and finally locked eyes with Sam next to her.

"I trust you with my whole life. I have complete faith in you as a magizoologist, as a partner, as a wizard, as a quarantined patient," she paused again for her own laugh and the laughs of everyone in the room.

"And so does everyone else here. You have shown exactly what it means to move people on from old prejudices, to build new lives and new ways of doing things, of new ways to love. You have given a whole new meaning to the name Malfoy and you should be so proud of yourself. Happy Birthday Sam."

.

With that she raised her glass, eyes still locked with Sam's and as everyone in the room toasted to Sam's 25th birthday she sat down and gave him a sly kiss on the lips which quite a few people saw and cheered.

Al and Alice seated next to them exchanged an eye-roll, Corey and Adam whooped, Jen, Annie and Bee laughed but looked away (no need to gawk at that!), Greg focused on sculling his fire whiskey and the entirety of the young Potter-Weasley clan pretended they couldn't see - the Astoria and Draco didn't need to pretend because they were cleverly discussing how delicious the food was and staring at their plates.

Sam's 25th had gone off without a hitch, with everyone enjoying a beautiful sit-down dinner in the ballroom, colleagues, friends and family all attending to celebrate a birthday people weren't quite sure if Sam would make after his Scrofungulus scare.

.

It had been by no means lavish, but of course still held up to Astoria's standards and although Sam had wanted to attend in his work robes Rose had made him put on a pair of dashing deep purple dress robes.

As chatter resumed after the toast, Sam kissed Rose again and smiled ruefully, "Rose, that speech was too much. Poetic, funny and meaningful? And all about me? Ugh it was awful, by which I mean amazing."

They both chuckled.

.

"I meant every word Malfoy, if you hadn't almost died from it I'd thank that particular bout of Scrofungulus every day till the day I either die or you break my heart."

Sam scoffed, "Don't be ridiculous Weasley, I will definitely be the first to go considering my less than perfect record regarding health, although it's fair to say you would be more likely to die than have your heart broken by me again."

He pulled her close and grabbed her hand loosely, "May I have the honour of this dance to prove as much to you?"

Rose grinned in delight, "Of course."

.

It wasn't anything as spicy as a tango, thankfully, but a serene waltz.

Rose let herself be comforted and swept off her feet, literally, by the warm and soothing arms wrapped around her.

This time, there was no competition, just a wonderful sense of togetherness.

The moved in perfect step with each other and the string quartet of instruments Sam had charmed to play.

As everyone gathered to watch them and take joy in their young love and frankly very technically proficient dancing, Rose and Sam sunk into each other, eyes, souls and bodies.

.

They didn't think of their future struggles, the people they would lose, the mistakes they would make, the amount of times they would hurt each other and have to figure out a resolution.

The friends they would support or the lives they would save, the darkness they would survive and the power they would give each other to hurt and be hurt, while always carrying through the faith that this was something worth hurting for.

They danced their way to another beginning, a dance so different from the tango in the Great Hall at Hogwarts; no tension, or frustration or anger to fuel them.

This dance, was the dance of their lives, finally leading each other the way they were meant to.

Faithfully.

 _/ A/N /_

 _Thank you to everyone who has stuck through this story, either from HPFF or as a new reader! This is the last chapter of You Gotta Have Faith and is definitely the last of this particular ScoRose storyline for now - I hope you enjoyed it and liked my take on my two fave next gen characters. Until next time, Witching World._


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